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State of North Carolina two-year state plan for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act and the Wagner-Peyser Act

State of North Carolina two-year state plan for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act and the Wagner-Peyser Act

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includes a List of Acronyms and Abbreviations.
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See text below.
The North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development (State Board), through coordination by its staff, assumes the lead role in the development of the State Plan. Guidance provided by the Governor’s policy advisors is incorporated, as well as input from a number of sources, including the following:
• State Board members,
• Major State agency stakeholders,
• North Carolina Economic Development Association,
• North Carolina Economic Development Board,
• Chambers of Commerce,
• Members of the Business Community, and
• Members and staff of Local Area Workforce Development Boards.
Input for developing and finalizing the State Plan includes the following:
1. Electronic Survey - in early March, an electronic survey was distributed to the aforementioned stakeholders. The survey included four questions that asked for feedback on the most important workforce issues for North Carolina and ways to enhance the One-Stop System (known in North Carolina as the JobLink Career Center System or JobLink). Stakeholders were asked to forward the survey to others they deemed appropriate. A compilation of the survey results was reviewed and considered.
2. Individual Meetings - in the latter part of March, members of the State Board’s Executive Committee and its Executive Director held an open forum with those in the workforce development community and conducted one-on-one meetings with major State agency leaders for the purpose of information-gathering and honest discussion. State agencies that participated in the individual meetings included the Employment Security Commission (ESC) of North Carolina, the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the North Carolina Department of Commerce (DOC).
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3. Web Site Review - the final draft of the State Plan was posted on the State Board’s Web site for public comment, and hard copies were distributed to the Governor and State Board members for review. Additionally, electronic notification was sent to the workforce development community at large, seeking comments and recommendations.
Recommendations and suggestions from these methodologies, collaborative efforts in development, and review by key State agency stakeholders have combined to shape North Carolina’s State Plan.
In his second term of office, Governor Michael Easley continues to move North Carolina toward his vision for . The One North Carolina Agenda is a set of goals that will build the State’s educational, economic, and social support infrastructure … “where every citizen has a chance in the winner’s circle of our economy” (Governor Easley).
Key elements of the One North Carolina Agenda include the following:
• Promote economic prosperity with an aggressive development strategy designed to bring high-skilled jobs, a high-tech infrastructure, and a quality transportation system to every region of North Carolina.
• Build a system of education that gives every child every opportunity to succeed, regardless of geographic location or economic condition.
• Implement the More at Four pre-kindergarten program to help at-risk four-year olds start school healthy and ready to learn.
• Recruit and retain the highest quality educators.
• Develop a workforce prepared to meet the demands of a global economy by expanding life-long learning opportunities.
Governor Easley’s vision for North Carolina’s workforce development system provides a continuum of employment, education, and training services for citizens and business that reflects community needs. As State resources decrease and needs increase, the workforce development system is expected to provide services in a seamless, unified approach that is effective and efficient. The workforce development system must offer “end to end” education, employment, and training solutions that begin with excellent public schools, that impact business recruitment and retention, and that offer continuous learning and skill building opportunities for emerging and incumbent workers.
North Carolina faces significant challenges as it seeks to create quality jobs for all North Carolinians. While the economy is steadily improving, the State is still challenged by the effects of a four-year, manufacturing-led downturn that continues to be influenced by global economic forces. During this period, the State lost over 160,000 manufacturing jobs to business closings and permanent layoffs, mostly in the textile and furniture industries. The economy has replaced
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many of those lost jobs, but often at lower wages or with temporary work. Because North Carolina is widely acknowledged to have an exceptional business climate, the State is aggressively investing in getting its economy growing through a transition from what was a predominately labor-intensive manufacturing base to one which is knowledge–based, characterized by a highly skilled, value-added workforce.
In the near term, North Carolina is stimulating its economy by building on its transportation and education infrastructure. Governor Easley’s plan is to enhance roads and bridges so that citizens can get from where they choose to live to good jobs, and so that business and industry will have efficient transportation outlets to move products to market. The State will continue to invest in its universities and community colleges to support the demand for training and retraining its workforce, including retraining for workers who lost their jobs during the economic downturn, a downturn permanently impacted by globalization. The State will continue to build on its investments in growth industries like biotechnology, and expects to excel in this area, in research, development, and bioprocessing. North Carolina will also target companies that apply new and innovative technology to remain competitive in traditional industries, such as textiles and furniture.
In the long term, North Carolina will continue to invest in education priorities as identified in Governor Easley’s One North Carolina Agenda. Education and training will be key success factors as North Carolina moves toward a knowledge-driven economy. The quality of the State’s educational and training system and the ability to continuously re-train the workforce will maintain the State’s attractiveness to companies looking to move to or expand in North Carolina. It will require strong public/private partnerships and collaborations, and a unified public workforce development system that can respond quickly to workforce and economic needs in local communities through service delivery and resource leveraging.
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North Carolina faces an unprecedented number of workforce and economic challenges that test government, business, and community leaders at the State and local levels. The economic downturn, market globalization, and worker dislocations have adversely impacted North Carolina. The State Economic Development Board’s (EDB) strategic plan recognizes that the transition of the State’s economy from labor-intensive to knowledge-based (workplace environments) is directly linked to the skills of the workforce. The State will experience a fluid and complex business environment – an environment where all workers will be needed with skills that promote increased productivity. The EDB, working closely with the Governor’s office and the State Board, appointed a subcommittee on
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Workforce Development Governance and Accountability (Subcommittee). The EDB charged the Subcommittee with examining the state level workforce development structure of program governance, management, and accountability, and with making recommendations on how this structure must function to effectively meet current and future economic and workforce needs.
The Subcommittee found that the JobLink system (North Carolina’s One-Stop service delivery network), including state and local level partnerships, has invested significant time and resources in growing this service delivery model in North Carolina. It found agreement among public and private stakeholders that this system is the right approach for delivering market-driven services to workers and employers. However, it determined that the JobLink system has not reached the level of resource and service integration needed by workers and businesses at the local level.
The Subcommittee also recognized significant budget and service capacity constraints within key workforce development agencies at the state and local levels, and recognizes that current and future needs will demand flexibility, easy service access, and enhanced services to new and existing business and industry. The Subcommittee identified the following needs in the state level workforce development structure:
• Methods for resource leveraging to counter budget and service delivery capacity issues;
• A common vision that guides policy, program design, and fund utilization; and
• Clear lines of accountability and communication that support effective service delivery to system customers.
The EDB Subcommittee recommended the establishment of a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance would be charged with implementing plans, policies, and strategic initiatives that involve multiple agency programs and resources. The Subcommittee also recommended that an individual, designated and accountable to the Governor, and with a clearly defined role and line of authority, chair this Alliance. Other Alliance membership would include the following:
• Chairman of the Employment Security Commission,
• President of the Community College System,
• Secretary of the Department of Commerce, and
• Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The EDB and the State Board endorsed this recommendation. When fully implemented, it will promote agency collaboration around a common vision for workforce and economic development. It is expected to impact the following:
• Planning, policy development, and funding across agency and program lines,
• Clarity in accountability and communication,
• Support and alignment of the work of the State Board and the State EDB,
• Enhanced service planning for response to business recruitment and expansion and worker dislocations,
• Enhanced service integration and resource-sharing within the JobLink system, and
• Identification of system capacity and staff development needs.
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The Alliance will be expected to put in operation the Governor’s vision for a workforce development system that responds to North Carolina’s economic needs with a seamless system of services operating within a common infrastructure at the state, regional, and local levels. This system is built around a common vision for workforce and economic development, strong state and local governance structures, a clear and accountable state level management structure, and the ability to respond to worker and business needs with flexibility and creativity.
Governor Easley is committed to providing lifelong learning opportunities for the citizens of North Carolina. The State recognizes the importance of quality public school education beginning at early ages, and the importance of continued education and skills attainment throughout one’s career. North Carolina will continue to leverage federal, state, local, and private funding to support the need for current and future knowledge-based workers.
The State will continue to work closely with its business and industry partners to define and understand their ever-changing needs regarding worker skills. North Carolina works closely with business organizations like the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (NCCBI), the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE), and the North Carolina Economic Development Association to ensure that their needs are understood. The State will continue to appoint strong business representatives to the State Board and the State EDB. Additionally, North Carolina will raise its expectations of private sector-led local workforce development boards (WDB) to ensure that private sector appointments reflect the industry makeup of the area, and that the local WDBs have sufficient capacity to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.
Governor Easley continues to leverage resources to introduce training and education reforms and opportunities and to build on existing programs that impact both the emerging and incumbent workforce. Examples of these efforts include the following:
Early Childhood and Public School Initiatives
• The early childhood initiative is a state-funded effort to work with at risk preschoolers to ensure their readiness for entry into K-12. Funding has been increased for this initiative.
• The initiative, recently announced, is a public/private partnership supported by NCBCE and other corporations and businesses, plus the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The project will focus on preparing students for high-skilled jobs in the new economy. The Center will work with public school systems, community colleges, and university educational institutions to redesign school curricula, update teacher-training programs, and provide improved assessments of student skills. Educators, administrators, and the business community will work with the Center to identify the skills needed to ensure that North Carolina continues to compete successfully in the global economy.
• The (NSP), launched in August 2003 by the Governor's Education Cabinet and the Public School Forum, is a private/public partnership that focuses leadership and financial resources on change in the State’s high schools. Backed by an $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this project will award grants and provide other support to create up to one hundred new, small high schools across the State. The schools will serve as models for academically rigorous curricula to prepare all students for work and college. The NSP will also seek to engage key stakeholders in shaping consensus for change in the high schools and action steps to get there.
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Examples of initial projects include the following:
-To date, eight school districts (Newton-Conover, Scotland County, Wake County, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, Asheville City, Cumberland County, Durham Public Schools, and Granville County) have been awarded grants to develop career academies. Each of the grant recipients is committed to creating new high schools and schools-within-existing-schools that focus on career preparation in the health sciences. They will be developed with regional health care and higher education partners.
- Five districts (Buncombe, Catawba, Guilford, Durham and Nash-Rocky Mount) have received grants to develop Middle and Early Colleges. By bridging the divide between high school and college, Middle and Early Colleges make higher education affordable, attractive, and more accessible. Such schools are located on either community college or university campuses. Upon graduation, students receive a high school diploma and either an Associate Degree or two years of transferable college credits.
– To reform high schools and better prepare students for college and the workforce, recent grants from the North Carolina New Schools Project were awarded in three communities in northeast North Carolina, namely, Beaufort, Camden, and Dare. The funds will be spent to create new, smaller high schools that will offer focused learning and will help motivate students to make connections with both their teachers and the world beyond high school. Grant recipients commit to overall reform of their schools to change whatever is necessary to make the high school experience relevant to post-secondary plans and the world beyond high school for all of their students.
Incumbent Worker Training
• The was designed and implemented in 2003 to promote and support partnerships with the business community to meet their worker training needs. Sponsored by the State Board and managed through a partnership between DOC and the 24 local WDBs, the program has provided over 200 businesses with grants to train their workers.
• A (NEIT), part of the NCCCS, provides customized training assistance in support of new, full-time production positions created in North Carolina. This kind of customized training assistance enhances the growth potential of companies located in North Carolina while simultaneously preparing the State’s workforce with skills that are essential to successful employment in emerging industries. This nationally recognized customized training program is a proven economic development asset for the State, and is closely aligned with the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program to ensure resource maximization and flexibility in providing enhanced business services.
• The (FIT), part of the NCCCS, is a special training program for North Carolina's traditional industries. Serving a customer base composed primarily of manufacturing clients, FIT uses individual needs assessments and consultants to design and implement targeted, customized training for organizations that need to upgrade workers' skills because of technological or process advances. The program focuses on skill requirements that change as technology changes.
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• The (CRC) is a portable credential that promotes career development and skill attainment for the individual, and confirms to employers that the individual possesses the basic workplace skills of reading, applied math, information-locating. This certificate is an especially useful economic development tool in cities and counties where the academic achievement levels of the incumbent, dislocated, or potential workforce are inhibitors to business development. As a result of the testing, individuals earn a CRC or identify areas in which they need further training in order to earn a CRC. JobLink Career Centers will partner with post-secondary education institutions to make sure that training and education opportunities are available to meet targeted training needs.
Targeted Worker Populations
• The , appointed by the Governor, focuses on issues affecting the Hispanic population in North Carolina. It has three major duties: to advise the Governor on matters concerning the Hispanic community, to establish a forum for the Hispanic community, and to see that Hispanics are represented in all facets of government. Workforce development is a major issue with this population group; therefore, State Board staff attends the meetings, assisting with these types of issues.
• The is a community college-based initiative designed to assist the Hispanic/Latino youth population with successful entry and advancement in the workforce. Specific goals include accelerating the training and learning process of Hispanics and building on the strengths of the emerging population for the betterment of North Carolina’s workforce.
• The , a plan developed by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, has both short- and long-term strategies to assist the thousands of North Carolinians who have been or will be impacted by job loss, either by business closings or by layoffs. The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, in partnership with Governor Easley’s cabinet agencies and other stakeholders, developed the Action Agenda ( ). The State Board will work closely with state agencies, federal agency partners, and local communities to implement measures that will assist workers and communities.
• The is a collaboration of the Department of Corrections, DOC) and the JobLink Career Center system. Supported by a grant from the US Department of Justice, and leveraged with state activities funds from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, this project works with soon-to-be-released inmates from North Carolina’s correctional institutions to assist in their transitions back into the communities and to employment.
Market-Driven Demonstration Projects
• is a demonstration project funded with a grant from the US Department of Labor (USDOL) high-growth initiative and leveraged with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) statewide activities reserve funds. This demonstration project is a collaboration between the State Board, the NCCCS, the North Carolina Hospital Association, and the public university system (UNC system). By increasing the number of qualified nursing instructors in the community colleges, this project addresses the shortage of registered nurses in North Carolina.
• The is a collaboration between the State Board, the Central Piedmont Workforce Development Board, the National Retail Federation, and Northgate Associates (a retail shopping center owner). This training center was developed in
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response to the need for qualified workers by the retail industry. The training center works with retail companies to train new and incumbent workers in customer service, sales, and management skills.
Millennium Campuses
The Millennial Campus Act makes it possible for any institution in the UNC system to develop facilities that encourage university/government/industry collaborations in research and development. These facilities capitalize on North Carolina’s considerable research strengths in areas such as biotechnology, education, information sciences, and microelectronics.
Governor Easley envisions a transformation of existing policies and programs so that they are more adaptable to the local labor markets around the State. He expects the North Carolina workforce development system to clearly define the customer base that it serves and the processes it uses to serve workers and businesses through the forging and strengthening of partnerships, and to continue building the capacity to do so.
North Carolina will continue to organize multiple partners and funding streams around common goals, bringing together businesses, workers, educational institutions, social service agencies, and other partners to design and implement policies and programs that improve labor market outcomes. North Carolina will take advantage of the broad representation of public and private interest on the state, regional, and local boards and associations to improve its understanding of labor market conditions, needs, and strategies.
The outcome of developing broad collaborations and partnerships at the state and local levels will be multi-faceted:
• Broader opportunities for workers to be employed in jobs that offer opportunities for financial stability,
• Higher level of business efficiency and productivity, and
• Enhanced regional and local economies.
Governor Easley’s plan for North Carolina, the One North Carolina Agenda, is a comprehensive, overarching, inclusive plan to make the State a place “Where every citizen has a chance to play in the winner’s circle of our economy” (Governor Easley). This comprehensive Agenda, broadly discussed in Section I A, includes a clear vision for developing North Carolina’s youth:
• Build a system of education that gives every child every opportunity to succeed, regardless of geographic location or economic condition.
• Implement the More at Four pre-kindergarten program to help at-risk four-year olds start school at grade level, ready to learn.
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• Recruit and retain the highest quality educators.
• Develop a workforce prepared to meet the demands of a global economy by expanding life-long learning opportunities.
• Enrich students with character education and with knowledge, and keep parents informed, empowered, and involved with school accountability report cards.
Within the framework created by the One North Carolina Agenda, a committee appointed by the State Board will be established to further ensure that all North Carolina youth, especially those at risk, have the opportunity to develop and achieve career goals through education and workforce training. Ensuring that youth can successfully transition to being productive, contributing adults will have a tremendous impact in terms of minimizing social costs such as welfare and those related to the juvenile justice system. North Carolina’s strategic approach for its youth includes a number of elements, namely: focusing on alternative education; being demand-driven according to business needs; addressing the needs of its diverse youth population; and achieving improved performance.
Governor Easley’s vision for North Carolina is to have a workforce prepared to meet the skill demands of its economic development strategy for recruitment and expansion of knowledge-based, high-wage jobs in the State. The One North Carolina Agenda is a call to the business community to support education and training of their employees. It is a call to current and future workers to seek and to acquire the education and training they will need to be productive members of the State’s workforce. More specifically, it is a call to the public workforce development system and its partners to meet the needs of North Carolina’s employers and citizens.
The State’s workforce development system will focus on the following workforce investment priorities:
1. Build workers’ skills to match current and future workforce skills needs. North Carolina must continue to close the gap between the needs of employers for skilled workers and the supply of North Carolinians prepared to meet this need. This workforce investment priority will require continued support and funding for the State’s education and training system including public schools, community colleges, and universities. These institutions will require capacity to provide high quality workforce education and training that is responsive to business needs in order to create and sustain a pipeline of skilled citizens ready to work productively.
2. Target resources and services to workers who need transition assistance so that they may be prepared for and benefit from North Carolina’s changing economy and job opportunities. This workforce investment priority will require the following:
• Expansion of incumbent worker training opportunities for businesses and their employees to increase worker productivity and to avert worker dislocations.
• A comprehensive strategy for dislocated worker transition assistance to training, support services, and reemployment.
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• Targeting services and resources to new and existing worker pools that may require special education, training, and support services. These worker pools include disadvantaged youth (including youth dropouts), the (increasing) immigrant population, new labor market entrants, and low-wage workers.
3. Continue to build the unified public workforce development system (JobLink) to improve services to businesses and workers, and to impact North Carolina’s current and future economic growth. This workforce investment priority will require the following:
• Expansion of the level of service integration among public workforce development agencies to improve services to business and industry.
• Creative use of multiple funding streams and other funding sources to leverage and maximize services to workers and employers.
• Marketing and communication strategies that effectively inform workers and employers of the services and benefits available to them.
• A management and accountability structure within the unified system of multiple agency partners.
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The State Board is housed in DOC, which is also responsible for the state level economic development divisions. The State Board, through its staff, provides collaboration in bringing together the expertise of public workforce development partners with the economic development community. Additionally, leaders from each of the public workforce agencies serve on the State Board. Through this state level collaboration, local workforce development partners receive assistance in aligning economic development efforts.
Both the structure and organization of the State Board are set forth in North Carolina General Statute 143.B-438.10. The Board has 38 voting members, 32 of which are appointed by the Governor. The remaining six serve by virtue of their offices as agency heads. The Governor appoints the State Board chair from amongst the business and industry members. The Secretary of DOC (or his designee) serves as secretary to the State Board. Members are appointed to four-year terms, and serve at the pleasure of the governor.
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The Chairperson has the authority to appoint committees and committee chairpersons. The Chairperson and those serving as committee chairpersons constitute the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee has the authority to act in the name of the full State Board as required, between meetings. All Executive Committee actions reflecting policy decision are subject to ratification by the full State Board. In addition to the Executive Committee, there are standing committees.
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The State Board’s 38 members are appointed as follows:
• By virtue of their offices, the following department and agency heads or their designees serve on the State Board: the Secretary of DHHS, the Chair of ESC, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the President of NCCCS, the Commissioner of DOL, and the Secretary of DOC.
• The Governor appoints 32 members as follows:
• Six members representing public, postsecondary, and vocational education;
• Two members representing community-based organizations;
• Six members representing labor; and
• Eighteen members representing business and industry.
The identification of potential State Board members is the ultimate responsibility of the Governor, as administered by the State Office of Boards and Commissions. Recommendations for the 32 members appointed by the Governor are received in several ways. Organized labor is asked to make recommendations for the six members representing labor. Of the six members representing education, one serves by virtue of his/her position as president of the State Community Colleges Presidents’ Association. Recommendations for vocational education are normally received from the State Director for Carl D. Perkins Secondary Education Programs and the representatives must have experience with respect to youth activities. Any state agency or community-based organization may make recommendations for the two members who represent community-based organizations.
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Any group or individual may make recommendations for private sector appointments of persons who have an interest in North Carolina’s workforce development system. Representatives from key industry sectors (as identified by the Policy and Research Section, North Carolina DOC) are recruited to assure that the Board’s membership reflects a true picture of North Carolina, from both an economic development and a geographic perspective. The State Office of Boards and Commissions receives all recommendations but the final decision remains with the Governor.
Eighteen members of the State Board must represent business and industry. North Carolina has made a concerted effort to assure that business leaders appointed to the Board have both hiring authority as well as an understanding of the workforce development system. To assure that ties with economic development are maintained and strengthened, members who represent the major employment sectors as well as regional economic development leaders are encouraged for State Board membership
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North Carolina General Statute assigns all functions required in 111(d) and 20 CFR 661.205. Board functions are defined in the General Statue to be as follows:
143B-438.12. Federal Program Administration
(a) Federal Workforce Investment Act. – In accordance with the federal Workforce Investment Act, the Commission on Workforce Development shall develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan to be submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. The Strategic Plan shall describe the workforce development activities to be undertaken in the State to implement the federal Workforce Investment Act and how special populations shall be served.
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(b) Other Workforce Grant Applications. – The Commission on Workforce Development may submit grant applications for workforce development initiatives and may manage the initiatives and demonstration projects. (1999-237, s. 16.15(b).)
In addition to the functions described above, the State Board (Commission) also:1) reviews annually the measures taken by the State Board of Education concerning section 113(b)(14) of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, 2) designates Local Areas, and 3) reviews developments related to the statewide employment statistics system provided through Wagner-Peyser.
A calendar is published annually of all meetings of the State Board. Meeting dates and locations are broadcast to the public via email distribution lists and via the DOC Web site. All meetings are held in a public location with handicapped access for people with disabilities. A public gallery is available to accommodate public attendees.
General information related to the State Board is available to the public at www.nccommerce.com/workforce. This Web site information explains the various functions of the Board and lists its members. For those wishing to be added to the distribution list for meeting agenda and minutes, contact information is also available. A sign up sheet for same is available at each State Board meeting.
Circumstances which constitute a conflict of interest are defined as any vote on matters (policy, procedure, grant or award) which has a direct bearing on services to be provided by that member or by an immediate family member, any organization which such member or an immediate family member directly or indirectly represents, any matter which would financially benefit such member or an immediate family member, or any organization such member or an immediate family member represents. (State Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5)
Resources for the State Board include support staff and travel reimbursement.
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The Governor will establish a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance will be charged with implementing plans, policies, and strategic initiatives that involve multiple agency programs and resources. The Alliance will comprise leadership from the following state level entities:
• Representative from the Office of the Governor, chair of the Alliance
• Chairman of the Employment Security Commission
• President of the Community College System
• Secretary of the Department of Commerce
• Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
The State EDB and the State Board endorsed this structure as an effective means of implementing programs and policies that involve multiple agencies and programs, and of establishing clearer lines of communication among state and local agencies within the JobLink network. The Alliance is expected to be the program management level line of communication between state and local agencies and the State Board, the State EDB, and the Governor’s office.
See additional details concerning the Alliance in Section I of this plan.
An additional approach to ensuring accountability, collaboration, and effectiveness of the services provided by workforce programs is a collaborative initiative to develop a new methodology for evaluating North Carolina's workforce development system.
The cornerstone of this initiative is the redefining of workforce development as a process based on rather than . To this end, a work group of partner agency representatives and local level staff developed this working definition: North Carolina’s workforce development system is a group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent elements that strengthen, help to improve, and aid in the growth of people who work, people who are available to work, and the businesses and industries which employ them.
Representatives from the following partner agencies are involved in this new initiative: the State Board, the Division of Employment and Training (DET), ESC, NCCCS, DOL, the UNC system, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Division of Social Services (part of DHHS), the Division of Services for the Blind (part of DHHS), and the Department of Correction.
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To guide an integrated vision for serving youth in North Carolina, a State committee whose membership crosses agency and departmental lines will be created. This committee, to be appointed by the chairman of the State Board, will include members of the State Board who have expertise and interest in youth and youth programs as well as representatives from state agencies and community leaders. This committee will include leadership from the following areas:
• Department of Commerce (DOC)
• Division of Social Services
• Department of Correction
• Department of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency
• Department of Public Instruction
• Business/Employer Community
• Hispanic/Latino Community
• Community College System
• Local Workforce Development Boards
• Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFW)
• Community-Based Organizations
• Youth
• NC SOICC
An additional resource for establishing priorities and services for youth will be a team already in place. Composed of representatives from Juvenile Justice, NCCCS, WIA programs, and Social Services, this team attended the regional youth forum in Chicago in November 2004. With on-going dialogue and a focus on youth issues, this team will play a vital role in supporting the work of the State committee.
A team-oriented strategy that North Carolina will continue to use is that of the Local Area Youth Leads Team. Representing North Carolina’s 24 Youth Councils, this active group meets quarterly to identify strategies for improving coordination and collaboration. Each session is an opportunity for team members to share up-to-date information on best practices, state level updates, and emerging issues. This information-sharing includes input from those who serve youth. For example, Department of Public Instruction staff have met with the group to brief them on high school graduation requirements and dropout policies; additionally, DHHS staff met with the group to discuss opportunities for foster youth under the John Chafee Act. With plans to have Agency representatives continue to play vital parts in these meetings, North Carolina intends to use this group to help develop and strengthen its business connections. In addition, a Youth Leads listing has been established so that members can quickly and easily discuss questions or issues of the day.
At the local level, North Carolina will encourage its Youth Councils to continue their work in developing broader roles within the community — roles beyond that of just WIA employment and training — roles that embrace a youth development perspective and take into account a
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wide range of community issues. These far-reaching issues can have a huge impact on the success of youth, especially those at risk, in the labor market. To ensure that local representation is appropriate to further the vision and work of the newly formed State committee, North Carolina will review Youth Council membership.
Further, North Carolina will strengthen its expectations for youth professionals. The State will work to have its youth professionals become even more knowledgeable about their local economies (current status, future projections, high-growth industries, and career paths); and will encourage JobLink Career Center professionals to make connections to specialized youth programs for dropout youth who are using core services and who would benefit from the addition of intensive services.
As is proposed in the current re-authorization discussion, should Youth Councils (at the discretion of the local WDBs) become optional, North Carolina will work with its WDBs to promote an integrated youth agenda. Accordingly, North Carolina will consider providing statewide activities funds to support local boards that opt to retain their Youth Councils, and tasking them with the broader community role
During the last half of the 20th century, manufacturing was seen as the traditional source of “good jobs” for most workers in North Carolina. Even as far back as 1990, service-providing industries were the dominant employers in the State. In that year, service industries accounted for over two-thirds of the annual average employment. In the last decade of the 20th century, economic fluctuations and the transforming forces of the new “innovation” economy served to further establish the dominance of services in North Carolina’s labor market. As of March 2005, service-providing industries accounted for almost four-fifths of total nonfarm employment in the State.
The average (mean) quarterly employment in North Carolina in 2004, Quarter 3, was 3,788,260; this figure includes workers employed at firms subject to the State’s unemployment insurance (UI) statutes (i.e., “covered” employment). shows the distribution of employing establishments, quarterly employment, and wages by industry sector. Over half of the State’s workers were employed in one of five industry sectors: Manufacturing (15.4%), Health Care and Social Assistance (12.5%), Retail Trade (11.6%), Accommodation and Food Services (8.3%), and Education Services (8.1%). However, the distribution of employing units (i.e., firms) by industry sector is markedly different; only two of the five dominant employing sectors, Retail Trade (14.4%) and Health Care (7.7%), are also among the dominant establishment sectors. The other sectors with a majority of the State’s employing units include Construction (11.8%); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (9.7%); and Other Services (7.6%). The sectoral distribution of employers and workers within the State is similar to that seen nationally; one striking difference is that, for the United States as a whole, Manufacturing is the third largest sector (11.1%) in terms of employment.
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Four of North Carolina’s dominant employment sectors, Manufacturing (18.6%), Health care (13.0%), Education (8.0%), and Retail Trade (7.7%), are among the five that paid over half the total wages paid during 2004, Quarter 3. The fifth dominating sector, in terms of wage share, is Wholesale trade (6.2%), which is neither a dominant employing sector nor a dominant establishment sector. Across all industries, the average weekly wage was $653. Health care, Education, and Construction, three of the dominant industries, had averages roughly equal to this amount while another three, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food Services, and Other Services – had averages far below the State’s average. Manufacturing, Wholesale Trade, and Professional Services had weekly average wages that were at least $100 greater than all industries’ average weekly wage. This pattern is similar to that seen when comparing sectoral wages at the national level. However, the State’s wages are, overall, about 80% of the nation’s; among North Carolina’s dominant sectors, the average weekly wage ratio (NC:US) ranges from .77 for Professional Services to .88 for Education and Health Care.
While the State’s labor market is characterized by significant concentrations of employment, employers, and wages, an accurate description of North Carolina’s economic base must consider the significant diversity present within the State. There are over 1,000 industries (always defined as the six-digit NAICS code) represented among North Carolina employers and almost 500 different industries with average quarterly employment of 1,000 or more. Even when analysis is restricted to industries with a significant portion of the State’s total employment, considerable diversity remains apparent. Twenty-eight industries had quarterly average employment of 20,000 or more in North Carolina during 2004, Quarter 3. This list includes industries from 11 of the 18 industry sectors with average weekly pay ranging from $207 (Limited-service restaurants) to $1,248 (Managing offices). These industries also vary in terms of establishment sizes, ranging from relatively small operations with an average of 5 employees (New Single-family housing construction) to those with almost 1,000 workers (General Medical and Surgical Hospitals).
The diversity of North Carolina’s economic base is also geographic. gives maps of the State’s 100 counties. The maps are coded by dominant industry sector, with the top map showing the sector that accounts for the largest share of employment in the county during 2004, Quarter 3, and bottom map showing the industry sector with the largest share of total wages paid during the same period. The continued significance of manufacturing in North Carolina is clearly seen in more than half the counties.
The industrial shifts that took place during the latter half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st century are expected to continue over the next several years. These changes will continue to impact the State's industrial structure and occupational employment patterns. North Carolina’s industry employment is expected to reach 4.7 million in 2012. This represents an increase of almost 700,000 jobs from employment levels in 2002. North Carolina will continue to experience both growth and dominance within its service providing industries and declines within its goods-producing industries.
By 2012, North Carolina's service providing industries will comprise 74% of total employment, goods producing industries are expected to decrease to 20%, while self-employment will continue to comprise 6% of all employment. Almost half of all employment will be concentrated in three service providing supersectors: Education and Health; Trade, Transportation and Utilities; and Professional and Business Services. The State's Manufacturing supersector will
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still be a major industrial force but will continue to be impacted by job losses.
North Carolina's Goods Producing industries are projected to experience decreases of close to 4,000 jobs. Employment within the Manufacturing supersector is projected to decline by more than 32,600 jobs. These job losses will continue to be dominated by losses in Apparel; Textile Mills; Furniture and Related Products; and Beverage and Tobacco Products. However, North Carolina will experience expansion in other Manufacturing subsectors, which will help to offset some of these losses. These growing Manufacturing subsectors include industries which produce Food; Fabricated Metal Products; Plastics and Rubber; Chemicals; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Components; Transportation Equipment; and Machinery.
Within the other Goods Producing industries, North Carolina will experience employment declines in its Natural Resources and Mining supersector due to job losses within the crop production industries. Construction industries will continue to experience growth and are expected to add more than 42,000 jobs. This growth will be due to significant expansion within the Specialty Trade Contractors; and moderate expansion within both Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction; and Construction of Buildings.
North Carolina's Service Providing industries are expected to expand to over 3.5 million jobs by 2012, an increase of more than 660,000 jobs over 2002 employment levels. Employment growth within the Education and Health Services industries will outpace other industrial supersectors. This supersector is expected to add close to 197,000 jobs and includes several of the State's significant growth industries: Educational Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Hospitals; Nursing and Residential Care Facilities; and Social Assistance Industries.
The Trade, Transportation and Utilities supersector will add close to 130,000 jobs, with employment growth expected in 23 of the industry's subsectors. Employment growth within this supersector will be dominated by growth in Merchant Wholesalers of Durable Goods, Truck Transportation, General Merchandise Stores, Food and Beverage Stores, Merchant Wholesalers of Nondurable Goods, and Motor Vehicle and Part Dealers.
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Total Employment
4,096,455
4,792,864
696,409
Goods Producing Industries
948,008
944,034
-3,974
-0.57%
Natural Resources and Mining
84,981
71,118
-13,863
-1.99%
Construction
219,051
261,545
42,494
6.10%
Manufacturing
643,976
611,371
-32,605
-4.68%
Service Providing Industries
2,884,442
3,551,213
666,771
95.74%
Trade Transportation and Utilities
724,668
854,372
129,704
18.62%
Information
79,126
95,031
15,905
2.28%
Financial Activities
184,638
225,504
40,866
5.87%
Professional and Business Services
416,936
560,518
143,582
20.62%
Education and Health Services
738,593
935,518
196,925
28.28%
Leisure and Hospitality
332,989
413,266
80,277
11.53%
Other Services
132,391
157,243
24,852
3.57%
Government
275,101
309,761
34,660
4.98%
Self Employed and Unpaid Family Workers
264,005
297,617
33,612
4.83%
Over 143,000 jobs are expected to be added to the Professional and Business Services supersector. This includes North Carolina's fastest growing subsector: Administrative and Support Services, as well as expansion in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; and Management of Companies and Enterprises. The State will continue to experience growth in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector, with the addition of over 80,000 jobs. This increase will be largely impacted by the continued growth in Food Services and Drinking Places.
By 2012, the Financial Activities supersector is expected to expand by almost 41,000 jobs. This will be due to significant growth in Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Insurance Carriers and Related Activities; and Real Estate. Growth within the Government supersector will be impacted by employment growth in both local and State government. Employment increases within the Other Services supersector will be driven by growth in the Religious, Grant-making, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations subsector. North Carolina's smallest service-providing supersector, Information, will experience job growth due to employment increases within Internet Service Providers, Web Search Portals, and Data Processing Services.
During the last several years, North Carolina's occupational employment patterns have been impacted by changes in both its industrial structure and workforce composition. Over the next
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several years, these changes will continue to be driven by both occupational growth and replacement needs, with replacement needs outpacing occupational growth. By 2012, over two-thirds of the State's occupational employment will be concentrated in eight occupational groups: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations; Management Occupations; Education, Training, and Library Occupations; Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations; Transportation and Material Moving Occupations; Production Occupations; Sales and Related Occupations; and Office and Administrative Support Occupations.
Over the next several years, North Carolina is expected to continue to experience declines within its traditional manufacturing industries and related occupations. At the same time, the State will continue to experience growth within its service providing industries and related occupations. These industrial and occupational shifts will continue to impact North Carolina's economic landscape and its workforce development strategies.
( )
As North Carolina's economy has shifted from goods producing to service providing, demand for skilled workers has been on the rise. Demands for skilled workers span a diverse set of industrial sectors and occupational groupings. In 2002, more than 300 of the State's 712 occupations required at least some postsecondary vocational training. During that year, employment within these skilled occupations exceeded 1 million.
Over the next several years, employment growth and replacement needs will drive North Carolina's occupational employment patterns. Several of the State's skilled occupations are expected to increase or maintain employment levels. Ten year projections, spanning the decade between 2002 and 2012, indicate that one third of all job growth will come from employment expansion in 284 skilled occupations. By 2012, 27% of the State's workforce will be employed in skilled occupations.
Although these skilled occupations span 15 different occupational groups, two-thirds of them are concentrated in five occupational groupings: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations; Management Occupations; Education, Training and Library Occupations; Business and Financial Operations Occupations, and Computer and Mathematical Operations.
Demand for workers in these skilled occupations and related industries are expected to increase over the next several years, thus requiring additional workers with advanced education and training. Through the provision of targeted training programs, North Carolina's workforce development system can serve as the foundation for helping to meet the growing demands for skilled workers.
( )
One hundred and sixty occupations are identified as critical to North Carolina’s economy. The “critical list” includes 22 major occupational groups, a diverse group that spans a variety of education/training levels and major occupational groups. Table IV D, below, shows the distribution of critical occupations by major group. With the exception of Farming, Fishing, and
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Forestry, all of the major groups are represented. This majority representation reflects the current and future diversity of North Carolina’s economy.
Management
7
Business and Financial Operations
8
Computer and Mathematical
6
Architecture and Engineering
2
Life, Physical, and Social Science
2
Community and Social Service
4
Legal
4
Education, Training, and Library
6
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
1
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
10
Healthcare Support
5
Protective Service
6
Food Preparation and Serving
14
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
7
Personal Care and Service
6
Sales and Related
11
Office and Administrative Support
20
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
0
Construction and Extraction
14
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
9
Production
8
Transportation and Materials Moving
10
160
Occupational groups that are particularly critical to the State include the following:
• Office and administrative support,
• Healthcare practitioners, technicians, and support,
• Food preparation and serving,
• Construction and extraction,
• Sales and related, and
• Transportation and materials moving.
The critical occupations within the above six groups encompass a variety of training/education and/or skill needs.
In sum, the occupations that are critical to North Carolina's current and future growth reflect the state’s economic diversity and indicate a need for a workforce that can meet the demand for a variety of different types of jobs.
Overall, 73 different skill, knowledge, and ability dimensions were important or very important for at least one of the State’s critical occupations. The wide range of dimensions relevant to the performance of job duties for the critical occupations highlights the diversity of the North
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Carolina labor market and economy, reinforcing the state’s need for a workforce consisting of individuals with varied skills. Many of the level requirements for the critical occupations’ most important worker requirements are in the moderate or high categories, an indication of a current and continuing need for workers with investments in education and training.
Despite the high level of variation in the skill, knowledge, and ability requirements of the State’s critical occupations, some commonalities are apparent. First, skills, knowledge, and abilities related to Communication are required for almost all of the critical occupations; 133 of the 160 critical occupations had ratings of important or very important for at least one dimension grouped in this type. Within the Communication group, dimensions related to oral communication are the most common, followed by reading, and then by writing.
The second most common type of skill, knowledge, and ability dimensions required by the State’s critical occupations is Interpersonal; 112 of the 160 critical occupations had ratings of important or very important for at least one dimension grouped in this type. The most commonly required dimension is Customer Service, followed by the dimension related to Teaching and Learning. Close behind the Interpersonal type in prevalence were the dimension in the Process and Problem-Solving group, where 61% of the critical occupations had an important or very important requirement. Within this type, the emphasis, for the critical occupations, is on dimension related to Problem Solving (i.e., Critical Thinking, Judgment, and Decision-Making).
Significant portions of the critical occupations have requirements in the other types as well. More than half of these occupations have an important or very important rating for at least one dimension within the Business, Management, and Production group while exactly half have this importance rating for dimension within the Mathematics and Science group. More than two-fifths of the critical occupations require at least one of the dimension within the Technology Use, Maintenance, and Design group, with an emphasis on use and maintenance of technology rather than design. Finally, 73 of the critical occupations have at least one requirement for a Specialty Knowledge.
( )
North Carolina’s current working age population, ages16 to 64, is estimated to be 5.8 million. It is projected to grow approximately 15% to nearly 6.7 million by the year 2015. This projected growth (see Table IV F, below) will provide a potential 864,318 additional workforce members, 42% of which are of prime working ages, 25 to 54 years old. North Carolina is also likely to see an increase of both older and younger workers.
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Age
2005 Population Estimates*
2015 Population Projections*
Net Change
Expected Growth Rate
16-24
1,145,729
1,325,884
180,155
16%
25-54
3,738,673
4,105,952
367,279
10%
55-64
909,060
1,225,944
316,884
35%
Total
5,793,462
6,657,780
864,318
15%
*Source: North Carolina State Demographer available at http://demog.state.nc.us
The actual number of workers in 2015 will depend on future labor force participation rates, which in turn depend on a myriad of factors such as economic and cultural conditions. Applying current labor force participation rates to the above population growth projections provides an estimate of the workforce in 20152. See Table IV FF, below.
Age
2015 Population Projections1
2003 Labor Force2
2003 Labor Force ParticipationRate2
Estimated Workforce 2015
Net Change
16-24
1,325,884
602,608
64.5%
855,585
252,977
25-54
4,105,952
2,958,914
82.4%
3,381,279
422,365
55-64
1,225,944
480,595
59.3%
727,508
246,913
Total
6,657,780
4,042,117
75.7%
5,042,652
1,000,535
1 North Carolina State Demographer available at http://demog.state.nc.us
2 American Community Survey
It is estimated that one million workers will be added to North Carolina’s workforce by 2015, and that the total workforce between the ages of 16 and 64 will increase to just over 5 million – 3.4 million of prime working age. The number of both younger and older workers will increase by 250,000. The numbers of older workers are projected to increase by over 50%.
North Carolina is one of the top destinations for state-to-state migrations, according to the Census Bureau’s special report, “State-to-State Migration Flows: 1995-2000”3, and was fourth in This estimate is presented with the caveat that future participation rates will likely not be the same as they are in 2003. For example, participation rates of older workers may change depending on public perception of the stability of Social Security. In an attempt to produce a more robust estimate of the future workforce, labor force participation rates were calculated for North Carolina for the most recent year available, 2003. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-8.pdf.
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the nation in terms of net migration - with 48.4 more people moving into North Carolina than were moving out (for every 1000 residents). Two of the largest state-to-state migration flows in the nation were from New York to North Carolina (100,727) and from Florida (96,255) to North Carolina. Nearly 500,000 working age people were added to North Carolina’s population during the period covered by the report, as twice as many people moved in as moved out.
North Carolina has experienced population growth rates above the national average throughout the 1990s and early 2000s as well as consistently large positive annual net migration rates4; therefore it is projected that this trend will continue.
As a result of migration, North Carolina’s labor pool is becoming more diverse ( ). The net migration rates are positive for each of the workforce age categories when broken out by race, meaning that more people of all ages and races are moving into North Carolina than are moving out. Migration increases the diversity of North Carolina as more people of color move in and stay. For example, nearly 40% of people of current Hispanic and “Other/Multiple Races” can be accounted for by net migration, as well as over 20% of the current Asian/Pacific Islander population. In 2003, the Hispanic population accounted for nearly 5% of North Carolina’s total working age population, up from 1.4% in 1995. While a smaller portion of Hispanics live in North Carolina (5.6% of the total population) relative to the nation as a whole (13.8%), the presence of this population is a relatively new phenomena that presents challenges to the State’s education and training systems in addressing the language barriers.
The educational levels and occupations of migrants are presented in Table IV G, below. The net migration rates are positive for each of the educational categories and occupations, meaning that more people of all educational levels and occupations are moving in than are moving out. It appears that North Carolina has benefited from the migration, with increases in the numbers of college educated in the available labor pool, and increased numbers of people working in Professional and related occupations.
4 See graphs of population growth rates and migration rates under State Highlights at http://demog.state.nc.us/.
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Less than High School
182,289
155,526
26,763
High School
216,255
118,852
97,403
Some College/Associate Degree
283,185
158,341
124,844
Bachelor's Degree or higher
272,352
167,403
104,949
Management, business and financial operations
102,558
65,875
36,683
Professional and related
175,094
99,432
75,662
Healthcare support
13,849
7,644
6,205
Protective support
11,876
10,293
1,583
Food preparation and serving
48,295
21,591
26,704
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance
22,939
9,239
13,700
Personal care and service
18,861
10,799
8,062
Sales and related
86,556
51,648
34,908
Office and administrative support
107,606
61,173
46,433
Farming, fishing, and forestry
7,826
2,323
5,503
Construction and extraction
56,739
19,672
37,067
Installation, maintenance and repair
37,005
16,955
20,050
Production
71,006
27,208
43,798
Transportation and Materials Moving
41,115
23,545
17,570
Military-Specific
34,093
12,868
21,225
Based on the analysis of worker requirements associated with the State’s critical occupations (see Section IV.E), the skill needs of jobs in the current and future labor market focus are varied in type, but similar in terms of requiring moderate or high levels of the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities. Four types of skills, knowledge, and abilities were identified as having a high degree of commonality, meaning that many of the critical occupations require these types of competencies:
• Basic Skills (i.e., reading, writing, mathematics, etc.),
• Technology Use and Maintenance,
• Problem-Solving, and
• Interpersonal.
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In order to identify gaps between the competencies demanded by North Carolina’s current and future labor market and those possessed by its workers, data on the most recent or current occupation of resident workers, drawn from the 2003 American Community Survey was analyzed. The occupations reported in this dataset were linked to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) skill, knowledge, and ability requirements, in effect using occupational employment experience as a proxy measure for an individual’s store of workplace competencies5. O*NET includes two measures for each dimension item – one indicating the importance of the dimension for the performance of job duties and one indicating the level required for performance. Only the level measures were considered in the development of the proxy measures of the resident workforce’s stocks of skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Overall, a significant portion of the resident workforce has a moderate level on many of these dimensions. However, the remaining workers tend to fall into the lower level categories, with only a small fraction of workers having higher than moderate levels on any given skill, knowledge, or ability dimension. In addition, there are several dimensions where the majority of the resident workers have levels that are less than moderate. These items are concentrated among the sciences (e.g., Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.), technology maintenance and design (e.g., Installation, Equipment Maintenance, Repairing, Design, etc.), process (e.g., Operations Analysis, Quality Control Analysis, etc.), and most of the specialty knowledge areas.
Focusing on the four types of competencies with a high degree of commonality among the critical occupations’ worker requirements, Basic Skills, Technology Use and Maintenance, Problem-Solving, and Interpersonal, the analysis of the skill, knowledge, and ability stocks of the resident workforce indicates a larger gap for two of these types. That is, the most recent occupation of many workers in the State did not require significant levels of Technology Use and Maintenance or Problem-Solving skills and abilities. In contrast, many of the workers have recent experience in jobs requiring at least a moderate level of Basic and Interpersonal skills.
These results indicate that many North Carolina workers’ most recent or current occupational employment was in jobs that tended to require moderate or lower levels of skills, knowledge, and abilities. As the trend for the State’s critical occupation centers on moderate to high levels of skills, this finding indicates that a significant portion of the resident workforce may not be prepared or qualified for current and upcoming employment opportunities. However, the gap is not large, meaning workers require upgrades in their skills, knowledge, and abilities as opposed to needing development of new competencies.
See text below.
Using occupational experiences as a proxy for an individual’s store of workplace skill, knowledge, and ability may lead to understatement or overstatement of the current stock of these competencies in the workforce. For example, an individual may possess a higher level of a given competency than is/was required for his/her current or most recent job. In addition, as the measures are intended to indicate the requirements of the “typical” job in the occupation, some level of uncertainty is introduced by ascribing these measures to the individual level
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These are critical workforce development issues in North Carolina:
• Skill gaps between North Carolina’s current workforce versus current and future workforce needs in the business and industrial base;
• Adequate funding and support of the State’s education and training infrastructure — funding sufficient to meet current and future demands for workers with requisite skills;
• Education, training, and related needs of critical North Carolina labor pools, including dislocated workers, immigrant workers, older youth, high school dropouts, low-wage workers, and low-skilled incumbent workers; and
• The fast, efficient ability of the State’s public workforce development system to improve and to change in order to meet rapidly evolving community workforce and economic needs.
North Carolina will continue to grow and improve its JobLink Career Center system as the primary method of forging broad-based partnerships in the its workforce development system. The State Board has a certification methodology for the JobLink system that includes standards and funding incentives from Title I (funding) for Joblink Career Centers to build and expand their services to customers, and to expand partnerships within their communities.
The State Board will also establish standards for local WDBs. These standards will include expectations for establishing stronger alignments with business and industry, providing good labor market information to business and industry, and ensuring that the local JobLink system and its multiple agencies and programs are providing services that are responsive to the needs of workers and employers.
North Carolina uses WIA Title I funds to leverage Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and WIA National Emergency Grant (NEG) funds to expand capacity and services to dislocated workers. The State will continue to use WIA Title I statewide activities funds to provide incentives for system expansion and improvement, to expand capacity to serve the business community, to support demonstration projects and test service innovations, and to leverage other state and local level funding for workforce development activities. This leveraging will include supporting activities that include partnerships with faith-based, community-based, and non-profit organizations.
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North Carolina recognizes that transforming its workforce investment system at the state and local levels to one that is demand-driven, cost efficient with limited duplication, and seamless for workers and employers will require a state level governance, accountability, and management structure that is clearly defined with a strong communication and operational alignment. In Section I B, the State described its plan to implement a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance will strengthen the State’s ability to implement policy and plans, to make decisions that involve multiple agencies and programs, and to maximize the use of multiple funding sources to impact workforce and economic development.
The State intends to build the alignment and communication between the State EDB, the State Board, and the Alliance in a way that promotes a common understanding and vision for workforce and economic development in North Carolina. This state level collaboration is expected to lead the effort in planning and implementing workforce strategies that address North Carolina’s priorities and the national strategic priorities.
Employing a four-pronged approach, Governor Easley’s economic development policies capitalize on the strengths of North Carolina’s economic base:
1. Target economic development and business retention efforts to companies in industries with growth potential and that provide a good quality of life for North Carolinians.
2. Provide tax and financial incentives to new and existing companies that provide good wages and quality of life for North Carolinians.
3. Provide state-of-the-art public/private partnerships for training and knowledge transfer for high-growth industry clusters.
4. Target additional resources to better serve North Carolinians who are most in need.
1. Target economic development and business retention efforts to companies in industries with growth potential and that provide a good quality of life for North Carolinians.
The EDB serves as the State’s top economic development policy advisory board and is responsible for recommending economic development policy to the Governor. Based on cluster studies conducted by DOC’s Policy, Research and Strategic Planning Division, the Recruitment and Retention Committee identified in the 2004 Strategic Plan the following target industries:
These are growth industries or industries that provide synergy to an industry cluster.
• Industrial Chemicals, Plastics and Rubbers,
• Transportation (including manufacturing of aircraft engines, boat building, automotive components),
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• IT/Telecommunications (including communications equipment, electronics, semiconductors, and software),
• Industrial/electrical machinery,
• Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals,
• Financial and Business Services, and
• Health Care Services.
These are industry sectors within declining industries that continue to show promise and growth.
• Textiles (for example, the manufacturing of non-woven textiles, fibers that are bio-sensors, or bed sheets that won't cause bed sores),
• Forest Products/Agribusiness (for example, specialty corps and enhancement of products, which would include recycling industries), and
• Furniture (for example, higher-end furniture and other niches).
Since the release of EDB’s Strategic Plan ( ), the Motorsports industry has been added to the list of target industries. Additionally, the State Board of Science and Technology (see below) has identified Nanotechnology (the ability to measure, see, and assemble objects on the scale of atoms and molecules) as a priority for North Carolina’s research, development, and commercial sectors. As materials science, a basic research and development technology, and an advanced manufacturing discipline, nanotechnology will have significant impact on virtually every commercial sector in the State. The Board of Science and Technology has organized a statewide nanotechnology initiative planning committee to determine the need for, and possible structure of, a State nanotechnology initiative designed to promote successful nanotech-based commercialization and economic development.
Enterprise Teams are staffed and led by DOC, and are comprised of personnel from its various departments: Business and Industry; International Trade; Policy, Research & Strategic Planning; and Workforce Development, as well as from NCCCS, Regional Partnerships, and local business representatives. The goal of these enterprise teams is to develop marketing strategies, to recruit new companies to North Carolina, and to create and maintain favorable business environments.
Additional agencies supporting research, development, and industrial sectors critical to the future of North Carolina’s economy include the following:
• The North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, a Division of DOC - the mission of the Board is to advise and make recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly, the Secretary of DOC, and the EDB on the role of science and technology in the economic growth and development of North Carolina. In pursuit of that mission, it also encourages, promotes, and supports scientific, engineering, and industrial research applications in North Carolina, investigates new areas of emerging science and technology, and conducts studies on the competitiveness of state industry and research institutions in these fields.
• The North Carolina Biotechnology Center - a private, non-profit corporation created by the State in 1984 and supported by the General Assembly. The Biotechnology Center's
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mission6 is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina through support of biotechnology research, business and education statewide. A 50-member staff works toward six goals:
Strengthen North Carolina's academic and industrial research capabilities
Foster North Carolina's biotechnology industrial development
Enhance the teaching and workforce-training capabilities of North Carolina's educational institutions
Work with business, government and academia to move biotechnology from research to commercialization in North Carolina
Inform North Carolinians about the science, applications, benefits and issues of biotechnology
Establish North Carolina as a preeminent international location for the biotechnology industry
2. Provide tax and financial incentives to new and existing companies that provide good wages and quality of life for North Carolinians.
provides an incentive, in the form of a State tax credit, for eligible companies to expand or relocate in North Carolina. Eligible taxpayers may offset up to 50% of State income and or franchise tax with credits for job creation, investment in machinery & equipment, worker training, research & development, and for operating a central administrative office. William S. Lee tax credits vary by geographic location with more distressed areas receiving higher credits.
(JDIG) is a discretionary incentive that provides sustained, annual grants to new and expanding business measured against a percentage of withholding taxes paid by new employees.
is a flexible, discretionary tool that can be used in competitive situations in which North Carolina must respond quickly to enable job creation and/or retention within its borders. Its purpose is to attract and retain sustainable investments and jobs to North Carolina communities, to stimulate state and local economies, and to provide resources to enable communities to improve their economic development infrastructures, expand their tax bases, and improve their general economic health and welfare.
created by the General Assembly in July 2004, is a $20 million initiative to stimulate business growth and job creation in rural and low-wealth communities. The funds are administered by the North Carolina Rural Center through four programs designed to update water and sewer facilities, provide business and technology assistance, renovate and restore buildings for new and expanding businesses, and invest in major research and development projects with the potential to stimulate job growth in rural and distressed areas.
provide low-interest capital for new and existing manufacturers, with goals of sustaining and growing industrial employment in North Carolina. : the Biotechnology Center's strategic plan, “New Jobs Across North Carolina: A Strategic Plan for Growing the Economy Statewide through Biotechnology”, January 2004. Fifty-four strategies to facilitate growth in this critical industry are addressed at the Center’s Web site, http://www.ncbiotech.org/ncindustry/stragplan/strategicplan.cfm#stratplan.
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are accessible to local governments to fund infrastructure projects that will serve a business that commits to create quality jobs for low- and moderate-income persons.
(IDF) assists town, city or county governments with project financing in the more distressed counties of the North Carolina. As an incentive for job creation by new or expanding industry, local units of government utilized the IDF to provide infrastructure improvements in the form of grants or loans for building renovation and equipment to companies that commit to create quality jobs.
3. Provide state-of-the-art public/private partnerships for training and knowledge transfer for high-growth industry clusters.
have proved to be an effective model for regional economic development strategic planning, in which employers within key sectors, public agencies, and schools share information and leverage resources to training workers for region-wide needs and opportunities. The goal of these alliances is to promote collaboration and coordinated strategic planning for economic development, community development, and workforce development among the many agencies involved in those activities.
(TDI) is a UNC system initiative created with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of TDI is to examine and increase capabilities and resources that support technology transfer at the 16 UNC institutions. The study and recommendations are available at http://intranet.northcarolina.edu/docs/aa/research/initiatives/TDI_Interim_report_June_03.pdf.
The makes it possible for any UNC system institution to develop facilities that promote university/government/industry partnership through physical proximity of participating organizations and through programs designed to foster collaboration between the three sectors. Millennial Campuses capitalize on the State’s considerable research strengths in areas such as biotechnology, education, information sciences, and microelectronics. A major goal of this program is to encourage the formation of start-ups by promoting synergies resulting from collaboration of research and development efforts at local universities and local entrepreneurs.
a proposed research complex to be housed at UNC-Charlotte, is planned to strengthen and expand the productive industry clusters already present in North Carolina in motorsports, high-end automotive parts manufacturing, and the military. This proposed research complex would facilitate growth by building synergies and promoting technology transfer amongst these clusters.
4.Target additional resources to better serve North Carolinians who are most in need.
Target resources and services to workers who need transition assistance so that they may be prepared for and benefit from North Carolina’s changing economy and job opportunities. This targeting of resources and services will require the following:
• Expansion of incumbent worker training opportunities for businesses and their employees to increase worker productivity and to avert worker dislocations.
• A comprehensive strategy for dislocated worker transition assistance to training, support services, and reemployment.
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• Targeting services and resources to new and existing worker pools that may require special education, training, and support services. These worker pools include disadvantaged youth (including youth dropouts), the (increasing) immigrant population, new labor market entrants, and low-wage workers.
The 24 local WDBs in North Carolina are the primary workforce intermediaries for developing and sustaining partnerships and collaborations that define workforce needs and gaps in local communities. The State Board expects each local board to be a “convener” of workforce development stakeholders to address, on a continual basis, workforce and economic issues. North Carolina recognizes, however, the need to build local WDB capacity to meet the expectations that the State, in particular the State Board, believes local boards should have.
Specifically, the State will work with local WDBs and local officials to strengthen the boards’ abilities to promote and sustain partnerships that accomplish the following:
• Organize multiple public and private partners and funding sources around common goals;
• Understand the special needs of business and industry and influence the development of services and programs in response to those needs; and
• Promote innovation in finding solutions to workforce issues.
The State will also continue to support strategies that meet the worker recruitment and retention needs of key industry sectors within North Carolina. Title I WIA funds have been used to support the development of regional skills alliances in two of the 24 local workforce areas. These alliances, at the regional level, include employers within key sectors, public agencies, and education and training institutions who share information and leverage resources to train workers for region-wide needs and opportunities.
North Carolina looks for opportunities to target existing state and federal resources to support workforce needs in high-growth industries and high-demand occupations. WIA statewide activities funds are used to leverage and support community college-based training programs in high-growth or high-demand occupations. This funding stream is also used to leverage federal and state grants received by North Carolina workforce entities at both state and local levels that target training in growth industries, demand occupations, and targeted labor pools. Training in high-growth/high-demand occupations through the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program is supported. This program, funded with WIA statewide activities resources, also complements the state-funded, community college-based NEIT program by providing training assistance to existing industries that do not qualify for NEIT training assistance.
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The State is also using system resources to build the capacity of business services at the local level. Special grants are provided to local WDBs so they can fund demonstration projects that build local board capacity, develop partnerships with key business sectors, and strengthen their understanding of local labor markets and business needs. North Carolina’s system resources will continue to target and support innovations that are responsive to business and community needs.
North Carolina is a state dominated by small businesses. Services and benefits provided for education, employment, and training in the workforce development system are designed from a “small-business-as-customer” perspective. The JobLink Career Center system is designed to meet the human resource needs of small business. This design is based on the premise that small businesses have fewer resources for human resources and development than larger businesses have. Because surveys and focus groups have determined that small businesses are not aware of services available through the JobLink network, the State’s focus is on marketing the North Carolina JobLink Career System on a statewide level.
All of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina have small business centers that support existing small businesses with services and information, and also provide small business development training for entrepreneurs needing assistance in starting small businesses. The State has provided grants to the community college system to support curriculum development for small business training, and also to support a special collaboration to train dislocated workers in small business development within the small business centers.
The Business ServiCenter is a business service call center within DOC that quickly and efficiently guides small and medium businesses to appropriate business services, including workforce recruitment, training services, and retention resources and services. Industry specialists guide businesses to existing programs and resources that may lead to improved worker productivity and company profitability.
The New Opportunities for Workers (NOW) program is a collaborative initiative between the State Board, the North Carolina Rural Center, NCCCS, and NC REAL Enterprises. This program provides entrepreneurship/small business development training to dislocated workers who have the appropriate level of serious interest in starting a business as their personal strategy for reemployment and self-sufficiency. The North Carolina Rural Center has also spearheaded the organization of the North Carolina Business Resource Alliance, which is a coalition of organizations that support small business. Through the Rural Center and the Business Resource Alliance, an entrepreneurship education and training directory has been produced and is available to JobLink Centers and other workforce development entities throughout North Carolina.
The UNC system has 17 Small Business and Technology Development Centers across North Carolina. Each of these centers is affiliated with a university, and each helps small businesses or those interested in starting a small business. Services include management counseling (operations, planning, and human resources) and educational services, business research, and technology commercialization.
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The majority of the grants to North Carolina businesses for training existing workers in the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program and in the NEIT program are awarded to small and medium size businesses.
Statewide activities funds are used specifically to support workforce development activities that complement the Governor’s vision and the strategic focus of the State Board, both of which are closely aligned with the national strategic direction. Statewide activities funds are used in a number of ways:
• To support competitive grant programs to local workforce areas for incumbent worker customized training for companies in high-growth/high-demand industries.
• To support funding for special projects at the local level for the development of regional skills alliances and other projects that strengthens the connection between the workforce system and business and industry.
• To support the community college system in areas of system capacity to meet the needs of business, to meet the needs of targeted labor pools, and to support innovations that lead to improvements in curriculum and training approaches for future skill needs of business and industry.
• To incent the JobLink Career Center system to achieve enhanced levels of service integration and partnership building through the JobLink Chartering process (North Carolina’s One-Stop certification methodology).
• To support projects that connect the services of community-based and non-profit entities in local communities with the services and benefits provided by partners within the JobLink network.
• To fund competitive grants to local workforce areas to support innovative approaches to serving youth dropouts within JobLink Career Centers.
• To support the development of new computer based tools and resources within the Labor Market Information Division (LMID) and DOC that provide new and expanded labor market and economic information to state level partners, local boards, and local JobLink service delivery staff.
The committee appointed by the State Board will guide a youth vision for the state and will promote the collaboration of programs and policies between a variety of agencies and organizations that serve and support at-risk youth.
This committee will become the State Board’s voice of youth advocacy and provide policies and direction that will help youth be prepared for emerging and growth occupations.
It is anticipated that strategies already in place by several agencies and organizations to be represented on this committee will provide a starting point for its work. Examples of these strategies include the following: 37 of 137
• Increase apprenticeship opportunities to dropout youth;
• Allow youth to enter a formal apprenticeship while pursuing a GED rather than requiring a high school diploma prior to enrollment;
• Require 240 hours of paid work experience as a graduation requirement for those youth pursuing the Occupational Course of Study, often a factor of keeping youth engaged in school;
• Provide enhanced services to long-term foster youth. is a strategy of DHHS that makes the reduction of foster care backlogs a top social services priority. This strategy focuses on children who are long-term in the system and are starting to “age out”.
• Provide quality and free child care to children of young teen parents, who themselves are often school dropouts; and
• Improve behavior of troubled youth by providing residential wilderness camp experiences.
Additional strategies include the following:
• is a strategy of the Governor’s office. Many of North Carolina’s dropouts are parents of young children. Quality and expense of childcare is a barrier to both education and employment for them. More at Four is available at no charge for care of four-year olds, one full year prior to other public services.
• - Strategies include these specific programs:
– operate in all counties and are charged with the development of strategies to intervene, respond to and treat the needs of juveniles at risk of delinquency. Programs include specialized foster care, shelter care, and guided growth.
- prevention program that addresses the predictors of dropping out: lack of a caring adult, grade retention due to academic performance, and school attendance.
- a residential wilderness camp for youth ages 10-17 who have behavioral problems. Since poor behavior is a predictor of dropping out and youth will exit the program just prior to the legal, allowable age for dropping out, this strategy for helping youth transition out of the last year of the program has potential for dropouts.
– a strategy to promote cross-agency collaboration is to enhance youth access to and utilization of NC SOICC career resources for youth. Building on NC SOICC’s unique history of interagency product creation and training, State employees who work with youth will continue to participate in NC SOICC’s professional training opportunities and to facilitate ongoing development of North Carolina-specific resources that link academic and career planning for youth.
The Strategic Workforce Initiatives Committee, a sub-committee under the State Board, assisted by State Board staff, researches and reviews legislative dockets weekly to ensure that any and all issues affecting workforce that are slated to come before the body are known. Once
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a piece of legislation is identified, it is researched in terms of its impact – positive or negative. A resolution that gives the State Board’s position on the issue at hand is prepared and presented to the General Assembly. The Management Alliance (outlined in Section I C) will be charged with identifying and acting upon all legislative issues, both State and federal.
North Carolina requests the following waiver extension:
1) Extension of the waiver of the time limit on the period of initial eligibility of training providers at 20 CFR 663.530 granted to the state June 4, 2004 and expiring June 30, 2005 (through June 30, 2007).
North Carolina requests the following new waiver:
1) A waiver to allow North Carolina to eliminate the 30% limitation on transferring WIA funds between Adult and Dislocated Worker programs (Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Public Law 108-7 increased the limit to 30% from 20% in WIA Regulations 667.140.) The request is for unlimited ability to transfer funds between these titles.
( ).
Performance measurement and management are key elements of both the planning and operational aspects of WIA. WIA recognizes and endorses the use of matched administrative records systems as a cost-effective method for measuring performance and analyzing outcomes. North Carolina has long recognized the value of such a system. The legislatively mandated Common Follow-Up System (CFS) utilizes UI records and other workforce development partner agency administrative records to measure employment, earnings, and educational outcomes for individuals completing State and federally supported education, employment and training programs.
The JobLink Management Information System (MIS), North Carolina’s JobLink database, was put into service on July 1, 2003. Funded through a contract from the State Board and ESC, this information system allows leaders at both state and local levels to assess customer activity in North Carolina’s JobLink system. This database records information in these areas:
• Identifying data - customer name, address, Social Security number, demographic information, citizenship status, and veteran’s information.
• Services requested data – reason(s) the customer has come into the JobLink Career Center.
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• Services provided data – self-services or staff-assisted services that the customer received.
The JobLink MIS is considered a gateway system for the tracking of generic JobLink customers. Customers that are provided services specific to one of the federal funding streams are subsequently entered into that particular program’s database. The State’s leadership understands that there must be a higher level of connectivity between these databases and will somehow work towards that end.
As a condition of the North Carolina’s JobLink chartering process, staff at each Joblink must consistently enter customer activity into the Internet-based JobLink MIS. This customer activity may be assessed by using a number of management reports available for the purpose of evaluating service delivery and providing information for performance management.
The Web-based JobLink MIS and the mainframe-based ESC system provide a common data collection system where all JobLink related services are recorded for customers. Data entered into the mainframe system from ESC-hosted JobLink offices is transmitted to the JobLink MIS application to be recorded in the database. This provides a common data repository that can be used for enhancing customer services. Once basic information is entered, the system accesses existing ESC customer files on the mainframe and supplies any additional information available for the customer. The customer may then complete the registration by confirmation or correction of any additional data and by completing the remainder of the required entries.
Over the next few months, all JobLink Career Centers and ESC local offices will have office and Career Resource Center check-in touch screens. This will improve data collection with regard to services requested and services provided, as well as improve customer service by expediting the check-in process for returning customers.
Information for the JobLink MIS, the CFS, and the State Employment Information System can be used to help meet the reporting, performance. management information, and service delivery requirements for WIA, Wagner-Payser, and the new common measures initiative.
North Carolina has 97 chartered JobLink Career Centers hosted by a variety of agencies: ESC, NCCCS, community-based organizations, Social Services, county governments, etc. While approximately 65% of the JobLinks are at ESC sites, there are 25 ESC offices and 2 WIA adult service offices that are not recognized by local WDBs as JobLink Career Centers. Staff from these offices provide services on a full- or part-time basis at chartered JobLinks in the same towns or cities. All WIA- and Wagner-Peyser-funded activities and other services provided by ESC staff are key components of the State’s workforce delivery strategy. It is critical that these service access points exist within the JobLink Career Center system. North Carolina
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acknowledges that the current situation causes customer confusion in accessing services, results in service delivery inefficiencies, and hampers consistent statewide marketing/branding efforts.
In order for these “stand-alone” sites to be eliminated, key partners in the workforce development system will have to make firm commitments to negotiate, collaborate, and compromise. In the short term, the appropriate partners at the state level will have discussions with local WDB members and staff, and with local partner agency representatives. These discussions will identify issues that may have prevented certification of these sites as JobLink Centers. After pertinent issues affecting each site are identified, the State will develop strategies for overcoming each of the identified issues. To implement actions that will result in the chartering of these facilities as JobLink Career Centers, there must be real commitment on the part of all key partners.
The State Board is well aware that accomplishing this short-term plan will be easier in some locations than in others. In many of these situations, lease agreements, staff resources, and/or difficulties in achieving consensus may complicate the task.
In the long-term, the State Board will assist local WDBs in assessing their local delivery systems as they determine in each Local Area the proper numbers and locations of the JobLink Career Centers. Local WDBs must take objective views of their systems and consider factors such as population concentrations, commuting patterns, transportation issues, and both staff and financial resources to develop plans that set forth strategic service access locations.
Since the early stages of North Carolina’s JobLink system, the State’s leadership has supported the provision of workforce services to a universal population. JobLink Career Center staff are organized to be able to serve customers regardless of their barriers to employment, their level of need, or their degree of career development. The requirement to make core services available to all customers is included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the heads of the State agencies that provide workforce services.
WIA- and Wagner-Peyser-funded services must be provided for the universal population in all certified JobLink Career Centers. In addition, a variety of labor market information is available to the universal population at all centers.
For many years, LMID staff have maintained close linkages with many of the key partners in the workforce system, including the local WDBs, the staffs of JobLink Career Centers and ESC
offices, State and local planners, and economic developers, WIA partner agencies, and members of the business community.
Educating WDB staff and JobLink staff on the LMID’s products and services is an on-going process. The Division’s Outreach and Training Team is at the core of efforts to establish and maintain strong links between the workforce community and the Division’s resources, products,
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and services. Members of the team serve all 24 local boards in North Carolina. The Outreach and Training staff attend workforce development board meetings, provide information for grant writing and strategic planning, and keep JobLink staff and local WDB members and staff apprised of available products and services.
In collaboration with local WDBs, LMID staff develops local labor market newsletters, which include key economic information tailored to a specific local area. This information is provided to local WDBs on a regular basis, usually monthly, and is used in a number of ways, including local workforce and economic development efforts. The newsletters are distributed electronically and in some Local Areas are uploaded to the local WDB Web site for easy access.
Many workforce development partners have expressed a need for increased familiarity with the fundamentals of labor market information, the characteristics of labor market data, and the appropriate and inappropriate uses of such information. As a result, a number of training initiatives have been undertaken with others to follow.
During PY 2004, the LMID, in collaboration with the State Board, sponsored Labor Market Information (LMI) Forums targeted at local workforce development and JobLink staff; the forums were conducted throughout the State. The focus of these workshops was to provide a basic familiarity with labor market information and its potential applications. As a result of the Forums, needs for additional training on LMID products and services were identified.
Training on the staff-assisted information access tool, Career Compass, will continue to be provided as needs are identified. Plans are underway to offer four refresher, train-the-trainer sessions in upcoming months at three strategic locations across the State.
Outreach and Training Team staff will also continue to work with various customer groups to develop training targeted to meet specific customer needs. Training will include a brief overview of available LMI data, collection methods, and on-line products and services. Sessions will focus on applying labor market and workforce information to assist the job seeker with job and career choices and providing information to WDB staff to assist in planning and training needs. Outreach and Training Team staff will also continue to make presentations and conduct workshops at State and local conferences for workforce development professionals.
While both the State’s apprenticeship program and the Job Corps programs have a limited number of staff available to provide outreach, a good working relationship exists with the leadership of those programs and the State Board. Field staff from both programs make itinerant visits to the JobLink Career Centers in their service areas to meet with customers. Additionally, JobLink staff have received overviews of both programs in order to make appropriate referrals of potential program enrollees and have adequate literature on both programs to provide to prospective customers.
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On July 1, 2003, the State Board implemented new criteria for local WDBs to use in re-chartering JobLink Career Centers. This new criteria replaced chartering guidelines that were developed in 1996.
Based upon the seven Malcolm Baldrige quality principles, the criteria were established on the premise that successful organizations operate with systems, structures, and strategies to achieve superior performance, continuous improvement, and highly satisfied customers.
The State Board’s vision is that these criteria move the system to higher levels of quality and seamless service and accomplish the following:
• Provide a framework for establishing that a JobLink Career Center is capable of meeting or exceeding quality standards set by the State Board and WDBs;
• Provide a framework that fosters performance accountability and continuous improvement; and
• Establish minimum standards that allow for local flexibility while protecting the minimum service expectations of the JobLink brand.
The JobLink chartering system is the vehicle local WDBs use to fulfill their quality assurance roles and to determine the readiness of the JobLink Centers to provide services. The chartering policy and the process address only State minimum requirements, applied by local WDBs and then validated by the State Board staff. Local WDBs and partnering agencies are encouraged to expand on the minimum requirements in order to promote a more seamless workforce development system.
Each chartered JobLink must meet minimum staffing requirements, create a business plan, have staff trained in customer service, and develop a number of processes designed to bring partners closer together. The chartering criteria incorporate three levels of accomplishment, with each level being more difficult to attain than the previous level. A financial reward is given to recognize those centers that are chartered at levels II and III.
The goal of the State’s JobLink system is to create a seamless array of services for both the jobseeker and the business customer. The JobLink chartering criteria have assisted in the effort by requiring that JobLink center staff create a process to coordinate the partners’ job development and job placement processes. This has resulted in greater clarification of business needs as they relate to the pool of qualified workers. It has also streamlined employer visits made by JobLink staff and makes for a more efficient means of service delivery.
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North Carolina, along with several other states, has struggled with the issue of allocating costs in the state’s JobLink Career Center System. State Board staff have convened state and local partner meetings to discuss a resolution to this problem. Cost-sharing budget models have been developed and distributed for use in these discussions.
Thus far, the meetings have produced no tangible results, as the partners have very different views on the subject. Some of the partners want all costs, including staff costs, to be shared; other partners want only facilities costs to be considered. Some partners do not have the State/local organizational structure to make cost sharing happen at the local level; other partners say they do not have adequate resources to share.
One of the ways North Carolina has used the WIA statewide activities reserve funds is by providing JobLink Enhancement Grants to each of the 24 Local Areas. The amount that each of the local WDBs receives includes a base amount and additional funds weighted for workforce-related factors and for the chartered JobLink centers in the area. For the last five years, $2 million has been allocated for this purpose. Allowable expenditures include equipment, signage, resource room materials, accommodations for the disabled, staff training, and other items.
North Carolina recognizes that, at a minimum, a State’s workforce system must have the capacity to provide two basic services; to deliver high quality training at the level of skills and work readiness that employers need, and to effectively and efficiently match job seekers to the specifications of an employer’s job opening. But to compete in the global marketplace, the State’s leadership knows that JobLink Career Centers must perform at a much higher level of service delivery to meet the needs of the business community and the individual customer. Through the State’s JobLink chartering criteria and the greater focus placed on building a demand-driven system, North Carolina is working to build a delivery system for the twenty-first century. Characteristics of a high performing JobLink include:
􀂃􈌠 JobLink activities are developed in partnership with economic development.
􀂃􈌠 The business community is regularly surveyed to determine labor force needs.
􀂃􈌠 Every effort is made to identify and meet sectoral workforce needs.
􀂃􈌠 Incumbent worker training is provided in growth occupations.
􀂃􈌠 Both business and jobseeker services receive high customer satisfaction ratings.
􀂃􈌠 Decision-making is based upon valid labor market information.
􀂃􈌠 A wide variety of human resources services are available for the small businesses.
􀂃􈌠 Entrepreneurship is encouraged and supported.
􀂃􈌠 Private sector input helps to guide JobLink services, structure, and activities.
􀂃􈌠 Both occupational and basic skills can be delivered at the workplace.
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􀂃􈌠 A high priority is placed on JobLink staff training.
Through the use of statewide activities funds and local area formula dollars, local areas are hiring and staffing business service liaisons in order to transition from a supply-driven to a demand-driven system. Among other responsibilities, the business service liaisons will be the main point of contact with the business community to determine how the workforce development system can better serve their needs.
Also, an expert was recently procured through our Workforce Development Training Center to expose JobLink system partners on effective strategies to provide enhanced business services, and provide Local Workforce Development Boards with best practices on making connections with their business communities.
provides a current listing and map of North Carolina’s 24 local workforce investment areas (Local Areas). There have been two area designation changes to the January 2000 initial WIA designation of 25 areas: 1) The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Consortium ceased to exist on July 2002 and Forsyth County (including the City of Winston-Salem) joined the Northwest Piedmont Job Training Consortium; 2) Anson County moved from the Pee Dee Region Workforce Consortium (formerly called Region H Job Training Consortium) to Centralina Workforce Development Consortium on July 2000.
North Carolina’s current 24 Local Areas meet the performance and fiscal accountability criteria of WIA and are accordingly re-designated for this two-year plan period.
The original process included the State Board’s 1998 review of the provisions of the new WIA relative to sub-state areas including all factors noted in the sections referenced above. The State Board’s recommendation to the Governor that he extend the opportunity to existing local service delivery area chief elected officials to continue as Local Areas under WIA was accepted. The response from chief elected officials was unanimously affirmative and the original WIA Local Areas were designated. The State Board will monitor any changes to designation criteria that may be included in WIA reauthorization and relevant changes to labor market areas and other considerations and re-visit re-designation as appropriate.
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The appeals process currently in place was effective for the designation described above. The process is as follows:
Any unit of local government or consortium of local governments with a population of 200,000 or more that requests designation as a local workforce investment area and is denied designation may appeal the recommendation of the State Board to its Executive Committee. If the appeal does not result in designation of the area, the unit(s) of local government may appeal to the Governor. Should the unit(s) of local government with 200,000 or more population be denied designation by the Governor, the unit(s) may appeal to the U. S. Secretary of Labor in accordance with Section 661.280 of 20 CFR Part 652 et al., Workforce Investment Act Final Rule (August 11, 2000).
North Carolina received approval in its initial WIA Strategic Five Year State Plan to allow chief elected officials the opportunity to retain current local boards or appoint new boards. Chief elected officials submitted signed certification packages for their local WDBs based on the option selected. All WDBs opted for continuation and were required to be in compliance with the nomination and appointment process used under Section 102 of the JTPA ,including subsequent appointments. Appointments from the private sector must be in compliance with the intent of WIA and ensure that private sector representation is reflective of the local labor market. North Carolina will monitor changes to local WDB composition requirements that may occur in WIA reauthorization and, as appropriate, make requests for amendments to update this plan.
North Carolina will continue its commitment to strengthening local WDBs through technical assistance, provided by DET, and training, through the Workforce Development Training Center (WDTC). Further, the review of local plans will include strengthening relationships with traditional and non-traditional partners at the local level and continued building of relationships with economic development entities. Building capacity in the JobLink system is always a priority.
Capacity building grants were awarded to the majority of the local WDBs within the last year. Some of the funded activities include “state of the workforce” reports, strategic planning, certification of skills, and business services for the small business sector. As the grant period ends, a summary of best practices and lessons learned will be created and shared. Future capacity building grants may be available so local WDBs can continue initial projects.
North Carolina realizes that the relationship between the State Board and the local WDBs can be enhanced. The State Board’s plan includes a goal of establishing an accountability system
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that builds both State and local WDB capacity. Strategies include relationship building, enhanced accountability models, and educational opportunities with local elected officials, local WDB chairs, and local WDB staff
See text below.
The planning document provides guidance to Local Areas on the development of their strategic plans for Title I of WIA. The planning approach requires developing a road map toward building a workforce investment system that addresses customer needs, delivers integrated,
user-friendly services and provides accountability to customers and the public. Responsibilities of local WDBs and Youth Councils focus on strategic, not operational, management, making investments that expand and enhance service and management capacity critical, and, for many, a new role.
With WIA, Local Areas have a unique opportunity to develop employment and training systems tailored specifically to local needs. Since a local plan can only be as effective as the partnerships that operationalize it, the plan should represent a collaborative and integrative process among local elected officials, WDBs and partners (including private partners) to create a shared understanding of the local workforce investment needs, a shared vision of how the workforce investment system can be designed to meet those needs, and agreement on the key strategies to attain this vision. Collaborative planning at all stages will enable the WDB to be demand-driven, to strengthen local system improvements, and to allow room for strategies tailored to local needs.
It is important that strong, business-led, local WDBs involve key partners who are involved in shaping a clear local vision in a way that is consistent with the State’s vision and goals, and that is responsive to local needs. Actions of WDBs should increase JobLink providers’ abilities to respond to the needs of their job seekers and employer customers. With the flexibility provided under the Act, WDBs will need to establish policies that determine what services to make available, how to deliver services, and how to effectively engage local employers. To maximize their value to the system, WDBs will track the satisfaction of customers to get feedback on their performance and make improvements.
The effectiveness of these services for adults, dislocated workers, and youth will be directly proportional to how well they meet the needs of employers in the local labor market. As a critical customer group, employers should be extensively involved in setting job and skill requirements, which are reflected in job orders as well as in the local labor market information available through the JobLink Career Center system. Therefore, local WDBs must be led by key employers and have the flexibility and authority to develop systems tailored to current and
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projected local labor market needs.
Planning instructions are issued to Local Areas by DET in accordance with WIA. Local Areas use these instructions to prepare and submit their comprehensive transitional plan. North Carolina recognizes that strategies and visions are based on assumptions regarding the economic and operating environments that are dynamic; therefore, if the plan is to be a true management tool, it will require on-going modification. Accordingly, State and local partners must view planning as more than simply a one-time event that ends with the submission and approval of the plan. The Governor allows Local Areas to submit local plan modifications by way of administrative adjustment throughout the year to maintain their accuracy and reflect the ever-changing conditions of a Local Area.
Each spring, plan instructions are issued to the Local Areas by DET. Local Areas are allowed time to review the instructions and offer questions and comments prior to the official dissemination of the planning instructions. The instructions are issued with a planning calendar which reflects dates for submission, reviews, corrections, and a time frame for when final approval letters will be sent by the State. In addition, the planning calendar allows time for local WDBs to request assistance and guidance for the plan; this can be provided either in group sessions or in individual meetings.
Since plan modifications are to be developed by the local WDB in partnership with the appropriate chief elected official(s), the plan modification submission must include the original signatures of the chief elected official(s) and the WDB Chairman.
Negotiation of performance of measures is provided as required by USDOL Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGL). Notice of Local Area performance measures are issued under separate cover and filed with each Local Area plan file.
Local plan guidance is written by the state office to be in accordance with the State of North Carolina’s goals and strategic direction and provide guidance for the Local Area. Plan final approvals are given only to Local Areas whose responses are in accordance with Federal regulations and State policy.
North Carolina recognizes that county or state geographic lines do not define labor markets. While appropriate across boundary planning, collaboration and joint efforts are ongoing, there are currently no formal regional planning documents with corresponding performance measures.
Formal intra-state and inter-state arrangements are not applicable in North Carolina.
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Not applicable in North Carolina.
After reviewing the available elements under sections 128 (b)(3) and 133 (b)(3) of WIA, North Carolina has elected to continue to allocate funds using the basic formula.
During the time spanned by this State Plan, North Carolina will review allocation formulas relative to any changes in WIA reauthorization and economic factors in the state. The State Programs, Planning and Evaluation Committee (of the State Board) will include broad-based, statewide, stakeholder input in the study of any allocation formula revision.
After reviewing the WIA sections 128(b)(3) and 133(b)(3) formulas, North Carolina has determined that there will be no significant shifts in funding using the allocation formula noted in Question VIII F 1, above
The State Board has established the following formula for the allocation of dislocated worker funds to local workforce areas. The formula takes into consideration the factors required in section 133(b)(2)9B)(ii) of WIA. These factors include insured unemployed data, unemployment concentrations, plant closing and mass layoff data, declining industries data, farmer-rancher economic hardship data, and long-term unemployment data.
Formula Factors
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of insured unemployed individuals in a county as compared to the total number of insured unemployed individuals in all counties. The data source is LMID extractions from the Unemployment Insurance System database for the most recent 12-month period.
Twelve and one-half (12.5%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of unemployed individuals in areas of substantial unemployment (Area of Substantial
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Unemployment is a county or Census Tract with an unemployment rate of 6.5% or more) in a county as compared to the total number of individual in all areas of substantial unemployment. The data source is WIA Title I areas of substantial unemployment, based on LMID Preliminary Unemployment data for the most recent 12-month period.
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of individuals involved in plant closings and mass layoffs in a county as compared to the total number of individuals involved in plant closings and mass layoffs in all counties. The data source is LMID’s Plant Closing and Mass Layoffs Report for the most recent 12-month period. Plant closings and mass layoffs are defined as: a plant closing or layoff involving a minimum of 50 workers filing a claim for UI in a period of five weeks, listing the same establishment as the last employer, and with no expectation of being recalled for at least 30 days.
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative employment growth by county (declining industries) as the change in employment from October to October. The data source is LMID’s Preliminary Employment data. The positive and negative employment growth rates are ranked lowest to the highest. This ranking is divided into quartile for allocation of resources. The quartile with the lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 40% share; the next lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 30% share; the third lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 20% share; and the highest growth rate quartile is assigned a 10% share of the funds allocated to this factor. The funds assigned to each quartile are divided equally between the counties falling into the quartile.
Twelve and one-half (12.5%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of long-term unemployed individuals in a county as compared to the total number of long-term unemployed individuals in all counties. The data source is LMID’s extractions from the Unemployment Insurance System database for the most recent 12-month period. Long-term unemployed individual is defined as an individual who received his/her final unemployment compensation payment during the twelve-month period and did not establish a new UI claim or went on extended unemployment compensation through another program.
The State Board consulted with local WDBs, local elected officials, and Local Area administrators in a detailed evaluation of the original WIA formulas and alternative methodologies. Consultation occurred in meetings between the State Board members, the State Board staff, and interested parties including Local Areas.
As noted, North Carolina will involve State Board members and Local Area chief elected officials in studies of any distribution revisions.
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The State Board developed a partnership between the State administrative entity for WIA, the ESC, the NCCCS, the Local Areas, and the local WDB to develop an on-line, PC-based statewide system for Eligible Training Providers. This system, called NC STARS, is the North Carolina State Training, Accountability, and Reporting System.
NC STARS is an Internet-based, interactive application used by training providers to submit applications to provide WIA-funded training, local WDBs when reviewing and certifying eligible training providers, and by individuals seeking training in a particular area of the State or in a specific occupation. Information in this system is available to all citizens of the State without regard to WIA eligibility. In developing a training provider list, the State, along with its partners, determined that list could serve a broader population than WIA participants; therefore
NC STARS was built to allow any training provider to enter its training-related information directly. The State determines minimum performance indicators for providers’ programs. The NC STARS Web site displays data that indicates whether training providers’ programs meet the minimum State performance measures. Local WDBs may approve only those training providers’ programs that meet the minimum State performance measures.
NC STARS serves these important functions:
• Eliminates the need for paper forms and massive centralized data entry efforts;
• Allows real time entry and update of vendor data and board certifications; and
• All

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:
includes a List of Acronyms and Abbreviations.
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The North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development (State Board), through coordination by its staff, assumes the lead role in the development of the State Plan. Guidance provided by the Governor’s policy advisors is incorporated, as well as input from a number of sources, including the following:
• State Board members,
• Major State agency stakeholders,
• North Carolina Economic Development Association,
• North Carolina Economic Development Board,
• Chambers of Commerce,
• Members of the Business Community, and
• Members and staff of Local Area Workforce Development Boards.
Input for developing and finalizing the State Plan includes the following:
1. Electronic Survey - in early March, an electronic survey was distributed to the aforementioned stakeholders. The survey included four questions that asked for feedback on the most important workforce issues for North Carolina and ways to enhance the One-Stop System (known in North Carolina as the JobLink Career Center System or JobLink). Stakeholders were asked to forward the survey to others they deemed appropriate. A compilation of the survey results was reviewed and considered.
2. Individual Meetings - in the latter part of March, members of the State Board’s Executive Committee and its Executive Director held an open forum with those in the workforce development community and conducted one-on-one meetings with major State agency leaders for the purpose of information-gathering and honest discussion. State agencies that participated in the individual meetings included the Employment Security Commission (ESC) of North Carolina, the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the North Carolina Department of Commerce (DOC).
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3. Web Site Review - the final draft of the State Plan was posted on the State Board’s Web site for public comment, and hard copies were distributed to the Governor and State Board members for review. Additionally, electronic notification was sent to the workforce development community at large, seeking comments and recommendations.
Recommendations and suggestions from these methodologies, collaborative efforts in development, and review by key State agency stakeholders have combined to shape North Carolina’s State Plan.
In his second term of office, Governor Michael Easley continues to move North Carolina toward his vision for . The One North Carolina Agenda is a set of goals that will build the State’s educational, economic, and social support infrastructure … “where every citizen has a chance in the winner’s circle of our economy” (Governor Easley).
Key elements of the One North Carolina Agenda include the following:
• Promote economic prosperity with an aggressive development strategy designed to bring high-skilled jobs, a high-tech infrastructure, and a quality transportation system to every region of North Carolina.
• Build a system of education that gives every child every opportunity to succeed, regardless of geographic location or economic condition.
• Implement the More at Four pre-kindergarten program to help at-risk four-year olds start school healthy and ready to learn.
• Recruit and retain the highest quality educators.
• Develop a workforce prepared to meet the demands of a global economy by expanding life-long learning opportunities.
Governor Easley’s vision for North Carolina’s workforce development system provides a continuum of employment, education, and training services for citizens and business that reflects community needs. As State resources decrease and needs increase, the workforce development system is expected to provide services in a seamless, unified approach that is effective and efficient. The workforce development system must offer “end to end” education, employment, and training solutions that begin with excellent public schools, that impact business recruitment and retention, and that offer continuous learning and skill building opportunities for emerging and incumbent workers.
North Carolina faces significant challenges as it seeks to create quality jobs for all North Carolinians. While the economy is steadily improving, the State is still challenged by the effects of a four-year, manufacturing-led downturn that continues to be influenced by global economic forces. During this period, the State lost over 160,000 manufacturing jobs to business closings and permanent layoffs, mostly in the textile and furniture industries. The economy has replaced
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many of those lost jobs, but often at lower wages or with temporary work. Because North Carolina is widely acknowledged to have an exceptional business climate, the State is aggressively investing in getting its economy growing through a transition from what was a predominately labor-intensive manufacturing base to one which is knowledge–based, characterized by a highly skilled, value-added workforce.
In the near term, North Carolina is stimulating its economy by building on its transportation and education infrastructure. Governor Easley’s plan is to enhance roads and bridges so that citizens can get from where they choose to live to good jobs, and so that business and industry will have efficient transportation outlets to move products to market. The State will continue to invest in its universities and community colleges to support the demand for training and retraining its workforce, including retraining for workers who lost their jobs during the economic downturn, a downturn permanently impacted by globalization. The State will continue to build on its investments in growth industries like biotechnology, and expects to excel in this area, in research, development, and bioprocessing. North Carolina will also target companies that apply new and innovative technology to remain competitive in traditional industries, such as textiles and furniture.
In the long term, North Carolina will continue to invest in education priorities as identified in Governor Easley’s One North Carolina Agenda. Education and training will be key success factors as North Carolina moves toward a knowledge-driven economy. The quality of the State’s educational and training system and the ability to continuously re-train the workforce will maintain the State’s attractiveness to companies looking to move to or expand in North Carolina. It will require strong public/private partnerships and collaborations, and a unified public workforce development system that can respond quickly to workforce and economic needs in local communities through service delivery and resource leveraging.
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North Carolina faces an unprecedented number of workforce and economic challenges that test government, business, and community leaders at the State and local levels. The economic downturn, market globalization, and worker dislocations have adversely impacted North Carolina. The State Economic Development Board’s (EDB) strategic plan recognizes that the transition of the State’s economy from labor-intensive to knowledge-based (workplace environments) is directly linked to the skills of the workforce. The State will experience a fluid and complex business environment – an environment where all workers will be needed with skills that promote increased productivity. The EDB, working closely with the Governor’s office and the State Board, appointed a subcommittee on
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Workforce Development Governance and Accountability (Subcommittee). The EDB charged the Subcommittee with examining the state level workforce development structure of program governance, management, and accountability, and with making recommendations on how this structure must function to effectively meet current and future economic and workforce needs.
The Subcommittee found that the JobLink system (North Carolina’s One-Stop service delivery network), including state and local level partnerships, has invested significant time and resources in growing this service delivery model in North Carolina. It found agreement among public and private stakeholders that this system is the right approach for delivering market-driven services to workers and employers. However, it determined that the JobLink system has not reached the level of resource and service integration needed by workers and businesses at the local level.
The Subcommittee also recognized significant budget and service capacity constraints within key workforce development agencies at the state and local levels, and recognizes that current and future needs will demand flexibility, easy service access, and enhanced services to new and existing business and industry. The Subcommittee identified the following needs in the state level workforce development structure:
• Methods for resource leveraging to counter budget and service delivery capacity issues;
• A common vision that guides policy, program design, and fund utilization; and
• Clear lines of accountability and communication that support effective service delivery to system customers.
The EDB Subcommittee recommended the establishment of a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance would be charged with implementing plans, policies, and strategic initiatives that involve multiple agency programs and resources. The Subcommittee also recommended that an individual, designated and accountable to the Governor, and with a clearly defined role and line of authority, chair this Alliance. Other Alliance membership would include the following:
• Chairman of the Employment Security Commission,
• President of the Community College System,
• Secretary of the Department of Commerce, and
• Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The EDB and the State Board endorsed this recommendation. When fully implemented, it will promote agency collaboration around a common vision for workforce and economic development. It is expected to impact the following:
• Planning, policy development, and funding across agency and program lines,
• Clarity in accountability and communication,
• Support and alignment of the work of the State Board and the State EDB,
• Enhanced service planning for response to business recruitment and expansion and worker dislocations,
• Enhanced service integration and resource-sharing within the JobLink system, and
• Identification of system capacity and staff development needs.
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The Alliance will be expected to put in operation the Governor’s vision for a workforce development system that responds to North Carolina’s economic needs with a seamless system of services operating within a common infrastructure at the state, regional, and local levels. This system is built around a common vision for workforce and economic development, strong state and local governance structures, a clear and accountable state level management structure, and the ability to respond to worker and business needs with flexibility and creativity.
Governor Easley is committed to providing lifelong learning opportunities for the citizens of North Carolina. The State recognizes the importance of quality public school education beginning at early ages, and the importance of continued education and skills attainment throughout one’s career. North Carolina will continue to leverage federal, state, local, and private funding to support the need for current and future knowledge-based workers.
The State will continue to work closely with its business and industry partners to define and understand their ever-changing needs regarding worker skills. North Carolina works closely with business organizations like the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (NCCBI), the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE), and the North Carolina Economic Development Association to ensure that their needs are understood. The State will continue to appoint strong business representatives to the State Board and the State EDB. Additionally, North Carolina will raise its expectations of private sector-led local workforce development boards (WDB) to ensure that private sector appointments reflect the industry makeup of the area, and that the local WDBs have sufficient capacity to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.
Governor Easley continues to leverage resources to introduce training and education reforms and opportunities and to build on existing programs that impact both the emerging and incumbent workforce. Examples of these efforts include the following:
Early Childhood and Public School Initiatives
• The early childhood initiative is a state-funded effort to work with at risk preschoolers to ensure their readiness for entry into K-12. Funding has been increased for this initiative.
• The initiative, recently announced, is a public/private partnership supported by NCBCE and other corporations and businesses, plus the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The project will focus on preparing students for high-skilled jobs in the new economy. The Center will work with public school systems, community colleges, and university educational institutions to redesign school curricula, update teacher-training programs, and provide improved assessments of student skills. Educators, administrators, and the business community will work with the Center to identify the skills needed to ensure that North Carolina continues to compete successfully in the global economy.
• The (NSP), launched in August 2003 by the Governor's Education Cabinet and the Public School Forum, is a private/public partnership that focuses leadership and financial resources on change in the State’s high schools. Backed by an $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this project will award grants and provide other support to create up to one hundred new, small high schools across the State. The schools will serve as models for academically rigorous curricula to prepare all students for work and college. The NSP will also seek to engage key stakeholders in shaping consensus for change in the high schools and action steps to get there.
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Examples of initial projects include the following:
-To date, eight school districts (Newton-Conover, Scotland County, Wake County, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, Asheville City, Cumberland County, Durham Public Schools, and Granville County) have been awarded grants to develop career academies. Each of the grant recipients is committed to creating new high schools and schools-within-existing-schools that focus on career preparation in the health sciences. They will be developed with regional health care and higher education partners.
- Five districts (Buncombe, Catawba, Guilford, Durham and Nash-Rocky Mount) have received grants to develop Middle and Early Colleges. By bridging the divide between high school and college, Middle and Early Colleges make higher education affordable, attractive, and more accessible. Such schools are located on either community college or university campuses. Upon graduation, students receive a high school diploma and either an Associate Degree or two years of transferable college credits.
– To reform high schools and better prepare students for college and the workforce, recent grants from the North Carolina New Schools Project were awarded in three communities in northeast North Carolina, namely, Beaufort, Camden, and Dare. The funds will be spent to create new, smaller high schools that will offer focused learning and will help motivate students to make connections with both their teachers and the world beyond high school. Grant recipients commit to overall reform of their schools to change whatever is necessary to make the high school experience relevant to post-secondary plans and the world beyond high school for all of their students.
Incumbent Worker Training
• The was designed and implemented in 2003 to promote and support partnerships with the business community to meet their worker training needs. Sponsored by the State Board and managed through a partnership between DOC and the 24 local WDBs, the program has provided over 200 businesses with grants to train their workers.
• A (NEIT), part of the NCCCS, provides customized training assistance in support of new, full-time production positions created in North Carolina. This kind of customized training assistance enhances the growth potential of companies located in North Carolina while simultaneously preparing the State’s workforce with skills that are essential to successful employment in emerging industries. This nationally recognized customized training program is a proven economic development asset for the State, and is closely aligned with the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program to ensure resource maximization and flexibility in providing enhanced business services.
• The (FIT), part of the NCCCS, is a special training program for North Carolina's traditional industries. Serving a customer base composed primarily of manufacturing clients, FIT uses individual needs assessments and consultants to design and implement targeted, customized training for organizations that need to upgrade workers' skills because of technological or process advances. The program focuses on skill requirements that change as technology changes.
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• The (CRC) is a portable credential that promotes career development and skill attainment for the individual, and confirms to employers that the individual possesses the basic workplace skills of reading, applied math, information-locating. This certificate is an especially useful economic development tool in cities and counties where the academic achievement levels of the incumbent, dislocated, or potential workforce are inhibitors to business development. As a result of the testing, individuals earn a CRC or identify areas in which they need further training in order to earn a CRC. JobLink Career Centers will partner with post-secondary education institutions to make sure that training and education opportunities are available to meet targeted training needs.
Targeted Worker Populations
• The , appointed by the Governor, focuses on issues affecting the Hispanic population in North Carolina. It has three major duties: to advise the Governor on matters concerning the Hispanic community, to establish a forum for the Hispanic community, and to see that Hispanics are represented in all facets of government. Workforce development is a major issue with this population group; therefore, State Board staff attends the meetings, assisting with these types of issues.
• The is a community college-based initiative designed to assist the Hispanic/Latino youth population with successful entry and advancement in the workforce. Specific goals include accelerating the training and learning process of Hispanics and building on the strengths of the emerging population for the betterment of North Carolina’s workforce.
• The , a plan developed by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, has both short- and long-term strategies to assist the thousands of North Carolinians who have been or will be impacted by job loss, either by business closings or by layoffs. The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, in partnership with Governor Easley’s cabinet agencies and other stakeholders, developed the Action Agenda ( ). The State Board will work closely with state agencies, federal agency partners, and local communities to implement measures that will assist workers and communities.
• The is a collaboration of the Department of Corrections, DOC) and the JobLink Career Center system. Supported by a grant from the US Department of Justice, and leveraged with state activities funds from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, this project works with soon-to-be-released inmates from North Carolina’s correctional institutions to assist in their transitions back into the communities and to employment.
Market-Driven Demonstration Projects
• is a demonstration project funded with a grant from the US Department of Labor (USDOL) high-growth initiative and leveraged with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) statewide activities reserve funds. This demonstration project is a collaboration between the State Board, the NCCCS, the North Carolina Hospital Association, and the public university system (UNC system). By increasing the number of qualified nursing instructors in the community colleges, this project addresses the shortage of registered nurses in North Carolina.
• The is a collaboration between the State Board, the Central Piedmont Workforce Development Board, the National Retail Federation, and Northgate Associates (a retail shopping center owner). This training center was developed in
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response to the need for qualified workers by the retail industry. The training center works with retail companies to train new and incumbent workers in customer service, sales, and management skills.
Millennium Campuses
The Millennial Campus Act makes it possible for any institution in the UNC system to develop facilities that encourage university/government/industry collaborations in research and development. These facilities capitalize on North Carolina’s considerable research strengths in areas such as biotechnology, education, information sciences, and microelectronics.
Governor Easley envisions a transformation of existing policies and programs so that they are more adaptable to the local labor markets around the State. He expects the North Carolina workforce development system to clearly define the customer base that it serves and the processes it uses to serve workers and businesses through the forging and strengthening of partnerships, and to continue building the capacity to do so.
North Carolina will continue to organize multiple partners and funding streams around common goals, bringing together businesses, workers, educational institutions, social service agencies, and other partners to design and implement policies and programs that improve labor market outcomes. North Carolina will take advantage of the broad representation of public and private interest on the state, regional, and local boards and associations to improve its understanding of labor market conditions, needs, and strategies.
The outcome of developing broad collaborations and partnerships at the state and local levels will be multi-faceted:
• Broader opportunities for workers to be employed in jobs that offer opportunities for financial stability,
• Higher level of business efficiency and productivity, and
• Enhanced regional and local economies.
Governor Easley’s plan for North Carolina, the One North Carolina Agenda, is a comprehensive, overarching, inclusive plan to make the State a place “Where every citizen has a chance to play in the winner’s circle of our economy” (Governor Easley). This comprehensive Agenda, broadly discussed in Section I A, includes a clear vision for developing North Carolina’s youth:
• Build a system of education that gives every child every opportunity to succeed, regardless of geographic location or economic condition.
• Implement the More at Four pre-kindergarten program to help at-risk four-year olds start school at grade level, ready to learn.
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• Recruit and retain the highest quality educators.
• Develop a workforce prepared to meet the demands of a global economy by expanding life-long learning opportunities.
• Enrich students with character education and with knowledge, and keep parents informed, empowered, and involved with school accountability report cards.
Within the framework created by the One North Carolina Agenda, a committee appointed by the State Board will be established to further ensure that all North Carolina youth, especially those at risk, have the opportunity to develop and achieve career goals through education and workforce training. Ensuring that youth can successfully transition to being productive, contributing adults will have a tremendous impact in terms of minimizing social costs such as welfare and those related to the juvenile justice system. North Carolina’s strategic approach for its youth includes a number of elements, namely: focusing on alternative education; being demand-driven according to business needs; addressing the needs of its diverse youth population; and achieving improved performance.
Governor Easley’s vision for North Carolina is to have a workforce prepared to meet the skill demands of its economic development strategy for recruitment and expansion of knowledge-based, high-wage jobs in the State. The One North Carolina Agenda is a call to the business community to support education and training of their employees. It is a call to current and future workers to seek and to acquire the education and training they will need to be productive members of the State’s workforce. More specifically, it is a call to the public workforce development system and its partners to meet the needs of North Carolina’s employers and citizens.
The State’s workforce development system will focus on the following workforce investment priorities:
1. Build workers’ skills to match current and future workforce skills needs. North Carolina must continue to close the gap between the needs of employers for skilled workers and the supply of North Carolinians prepared to meet this need. This workforce investment priority will require continued support and funding for the State’s education and training system including public schools, community colleges, and universities. These institutions will require capacity to provide high quality workforce education and training that is responsive to business needs in order to create and sustain a pipeline of skilled citizens ready to work productively.
2. Target resources and services to workers who need transition assistance so that they may be prepared for and benefit from North Carolina’s changing economy and job opportunities. This workforce investment priority will require the following:
• Expansion of incumbent worker training opportunities for businesses and their employees to increase worker productivity and to avert worker dislocations.
• A comprehensive strategy for dislocated worker transition assistance to training, support services, and reemployment.
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• Targeting services and resources to new and existing worker pools that may require special education, training, and support services. These worker pools include disadvantaged youth (including youth dropouts), the (increasing) immigrant population, new labor market entrants, and low-wage workers.
3. Continue to build the unified public workforce development system (JobLink) to improve services to businesses and workers, and to impact North Carolina’s current and future economic growth. This workforce investment priority will require the following:
• Expansion of the level of service integration among public workforce development agencies to improve services to business and industry.
• Creative use of multiple funding streams and other funding sources to leverage and maximize services to workers and employers.
• Marketing and communication strategies that effectively inform workers and employers of the services and benefits available to them.
• A management and accountability structure within the unified system of multiple agency partners.
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The State Board is housed in DOC, which is also responsible for the state level economic development divisions. The State Board, through its staff, provides collaboration in bringing together the expertise of public workforce development partners with the economic development community. Additionally, leaders from each of the public workforce agencies serve on the State Board. Through this state level collaboration, local workforce development partners receive assistance in aligning economic development efforts.
Both the structure and organization of the State Board are set forth in North Carolina General Statute 143.B-438.10. The Board has 38 voting members, 32 of which are appointed by the Governor. The remaining six serve by virtue of their offices as agency heads. The Governor appoints the State Board chair from amongst the business and industry members. The Secretary of DOC (or his designee) serves as secretary to the State Board. Members are appointed to four-year terms, and serve at the pleasure of the governor.
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The Chairperson has the authority to appoint committees and committee chairpersons. The Chairperson and those serving as committee chairpersons constitute the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee has the authority to act in the name of the full State Board as required, between meetings. All Executive Committee actions reflecting policy decision are subject to ratification by the full State Board. In addition to the Executive Committee, there are standing committees.
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The State Board’s 38 members are appointed as follows:
• By virtue of their offices, the following department and agency heads or their designees serve on the State Board: the Secretary of DHHS, the Chair of ESC, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the President of NCCCS, the Commissioner of DOL, and the Secretary of DOC.
• The Governor appoints 32 members as follows:
• Six members representing public, postsecondary, and vocational education;
• Two members representing community-based organizations;
• Six members representing labor; and
• Eighteen members representing business and industry.
The identification of potential State Board members is the ultimate responsibility of the Governor, as administered by the State Office of Boards and Commissions. Recommendations for the 32 members appointed by the Governor are received in several ways. Organized labor is asked to make recommendations for the six members representing labor. Of the six members representing education, one serves by virtue of his/her position as president of the State Community Colleges Presidents’ Association. Recommendations for vocational education are normally received from the State Director for Carl D. Perkins Secondary Education Programs and the representatives must have experience with respect to youth activities. Any state agency or community-based organization may make recommendations for the two members who represent community-based organizations.
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Any group or individual may make recommendations for private sector appointments of persons who have an interest in North Carolina’s workforce development system. Representatives from key industry sectors (as identified by the Policy and Research Section, North Carolina DOC) are recruited to assure that the Board’s membership reflects a true picture of North Carolina, from both an economic development and a geographic perspective. The State Office of Boards and Commissions receives all recommendations but the final decision remains with the Governor.
Eighteen members of the State Board must represent business and industry. North Carolina has made a concerted effort to assure that business leaders appointed to the Board have both hiring authority as well as an understanding of the workforce development system. To assure that ties with economic development are maintained and strengthened, members who represent the major employment sectors as well as regional economic development leaders are encouraged for State Board membership
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North Carolina General Statute assigns all functions required in 111(d) and 20 CFR 661.205. Board functions are defined in the General Statue to be as follows:
143B-438.12. Federal Program Administration
(a) Federal Workforce Investment Act. – In accordance with the federal Workforce Investment Act, the Commission on Workforce Development shall develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan to be submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. The Strategic Plan shall describe the workforce development activities to be undertaken in the State to implement the federal Workforce Investment Act and how special populations shall be served.
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(b) Other Workforce Grant Applications. – The Commission on Workforce Development may submit grant applications for workforce development initiatives and may manage the initiatives and demonstration projects. (1999-237, s. 16.15(b).)
In addition to the functions described above, the State Board (Commission) also:1) reviews annually the measures taken by the State Board of Education concerning section 113(b)(14) of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, 2) designates Local Areas, and 3) reviews developments related to the statewide employment statistics system provided through Wagner-Peyser.
A calendar is published annually of all meetings of the State Board. Meeting dates and locations are broadcast to the public via email distribution lists and via the DOC Web site. All meetings are held in a public location with handicapped access for people with disabilities. A public gallery is available to accommodate public attendees.
General information related to the State Board is available to the public at www.nccommerce.com/workforce. This Web site information explains the various functions of the Board and lists its members. For those wishing to be added to the distribution list for meeting agenda and minutes, contact information is also available. A sign up sheet for same is available at each State Board meeting.
Circumstances which constitute a conflict of interest are defined as any vote on matters (policy, procedure, grant or award) which has a direct bearing on services to be provided by that member or by an immediate family member, any organization which such member or an immediate family member directly or indirectly represents, any matter which would financially benefit such member or an immediate family member, or any organization such member or an immediate family member represents. (State Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5)
Resources for the State Board include support staff and travel reimbursement.
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The Governor will establish a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance will be charged with implementing plans, policies, and strategic initiatives that involve multiple agency programs and resources. The Alliance will comprise leadership from the following state level entities:
• Representative from the Office of the Governor, chair of the Alliance
• Chairman of the Employment Security Commission
• President of the Community College System
• Secretary of the Department of Commerce
• Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
The State EDB and the State Board endorsed this structure as an effective means of implementing programs and policies that involve multiple agencies and programs, and of establishing clearer lines of communication among state and local agencies within the JobLink network. The Alliance is expected to be the program management level line of communication between state and local agencies and the State Board, the State EDB, and the Governor’s office.
See additional details concerning the Alliance in Section I of this plan.
An additional approach to ensuring accountability, collaboration, and effectiveness of the services provided by workforce programs is a collaborative initiative to develop a new methodology for evaluating North Carolina's workforce development system.
The cornerstone of this initiative is the redefining of workforce development as a process based on rather than . To this end, a work group of partner agency representatives and local level staff developed this working definition: North Carolina’s workforce development system is a group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent elements that strengthen, help to improve, and aid in the growth of people who work, people who are available to work, and the businesses and industries which employ them.
Representatives from the following partner agencies are involved in this new initiative: the State Board, the Division of Employment and Training (DET), ESC, NCCCS, DOL, the UNC system, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Division of Social Services (part of DHHS), the Division of Services for the Blind (part of DHHS), and the Department of Correction.
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To guide an integrated vision for serving youth in North Carolina, a State committee whose membership crosses agency and departmental lines will be created. This committee, to be appointed by the chairman of the State Board, will include members of the State Board who have expertise and interest in youth and youth programs as well as representatives from state agencies and community leaders. This committee will include leadership from the following areas:
• Department of Commerce (DOC)
• Division of Social Services
• Department of Correction
• Department of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency
• Department of Public Instruction
• Business/Employer Community
• Hispanic/Latino Community
• Community College System
• Local Workforce Development Boards
• Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFW)
• Community-Based Organizations
• Youth
• NC SOICC
An additional resource for establishing priorities and services for youth will be a team already in place. Composed of representatives from Juvenile Justice, NCCCS, WIA programs, and Social Services, this team attended the regional youth forum in Chicago in November 2004. With on-going dialogue and a focus on youth issues, this team will play a vital role in supporting the work of the State committee.
A team-oriented strategy that North Carolina will continue to use is that of the Local Area Youth Leads Team. Representing North Carolina’s 24 Youth Councils, this active group meets quarterly to identify strategies for improving coordination and collaboration. Each session is an opportunity for team members to share up-to-date information on best practices, state level updates, and emerging issues. This information-sharing includes input from those who serve youth. For example, Department of Public Instruction staff have met with the group to brief them on high school graduation requirements and dropout policies; additionally, DHHS staff met with the group to discuss opportunities for foster youth under the John Chafee Act. With plans to have Agency representatives continue to play vital parts in these meetings, North Carolina intends to use this group to help develop and strengthen its business connections. In addition, a Youth Leads listing has been established so that members can quickly and easily discuss questions or issues of the day.
At the local level, North Carolina will encourage its Youth Councils to continue their work in developing broader roles within the community — roles beyond that of just WIA employment and training — roles that embrace a youth development perspective and take into account a
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wide range of community issues. These far-reaching issues can have a huge impact on the success of youth, especially those at risk, in the labor market. To ensure that local representation is appropriate to further the vision and work of the newly formed State committee, North Carolina will review Youth Council membership.
Further, North Carolina will strengthen its expectations for youth professionals. The State will work to have its youth professionals become even more knowledgeable about their local economies (current status, future projections, high-growth industries, and career paths); and will encourage JobLink Career Center professionals to make connections to specialized youth programs for dropout youth who are using core services and who would benefit from the addition of intensive services.
As is proposed in the current re-authorization discussion, should Youth Councils (at the discretion of the local WDBs) become optional, North Carolina will work with its WDBs to promote an integrated youth agenda. Accordingly, North Carolina will consider providing statewide activities funds to support local boards that opt to retain their Youth Councils, and tasking them with the broader community role
During the last half of the 20th century, manufacturing was seen as the traditional source of “good jobs” for most workers in North Carolina. Even as far back as 1990, service-providing industries were the dominant employers in the State. In that year, service industries accounted for over two-thirds of the annual average employment. In the last decade of the 20th century, economic fluctuations and the transforming forces of the new “innovation” economy served to further establish the dominance of services in North Carolina’s labor market. As of March 2005, service-providing industries accounted for almost four-fifths of total nonfarm employment in the State.
The average (mean) quarterly employment in North Carolina in 2004, Quarter 3, was 3,788,260; this figure includes workers employed at firms subject to the State’s unemployment insurance (UI) statutes (i.e., “covered” employment). shows the distribution of employing establishments, quarterly employment, and wages by industry sector. Over half of the State’s workers were employed in one of five industry sectors: Manufacturing (15.4%), Health Care and Social Assistance (12.5%), Retail Trade (11.6%), Accommodation and Food Services (8.3%), and Education Services (8.1%). However, the distribution of employing units (i.e., firms) by industry sector is markedly different; only two of the five dominant employing sectors, Retail Trade (14.4%) and Health Care (7.7%), are also among the dominant establishment sectors. The other sectors with a majority of the State’s employing units include Construction (11.8%); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (9.7%); and Other Services (7.6%). The sectoral distribution of employers and workers within the State is similar to that seen nationally; one striking difference is that, for the United States as a whole, Manufacturing is the third largest sector (11.1%) in terms of employment.
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Four of North Carolina’s dominant employment sectors, Manufacturing (18.6%), Health care (13.0%), Education (8.0%), and Retail Trade (7.7%), are among the five that paid over half the total wages paid during 2004, Quarter 3. The fifth dominating sector, in terms of wage share, is Wholesale trade (6.2%), which is neither a dominant employing sector nor a dominant establishment sector. Across all industries, the average weekly wage was $653. Health care, Education, and Construction, three of the dominant industries, had averages roughly equal to this amount while another three, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food Services, and Other Services – had averages far below the State’s average. Manufacturing, Wholesale Trade, and Professional Services had weekly average wages that were at least $100 greater than all industries’ average weekly wage. This pattern is similar to that seen when comparing sectoral wages at the national level. However, the State’s wages are, overall, about 80% of the nation’s; among North Carolina’s dominant sectors, the average weekly wage ratio (NC:US) ranges from .77 for Professional Services to .88 for Education and Health Care.
While the State’s labor market is characterized by significant concentrations of employment, employers, and wages, an accurate description of North Carolina’s economic base must consider the significant diversity present within the State. There are over 1,000 industries (always defined as the six-digit NAICS code) represented among North Carolina employers and almost 500 different industries with average quarterly employment of 1,000 or more. Even when analysis is restricted to industries with a significant portion of the State’s total employment, considerable diversity remains apparent. Twenty-eight industries had quarterly average employment of 20,000 or more in North Carolina during 2004, Quarter 3. This list includes industries from 11 of the 18 industry sectors with average weekly pay ranging from $207 (Limited-service restaurants) to $1,248 (Managing offices). These industries also vary in terms of establishment sizes, ranging from relatively small operations with an average of 5 employees (New Single-family housing construction) to those with almost 1,000 workers (General Medical and Surgical Hospitals).
The diversity of North Carolina’s economic base is also geographic. gives maps of the State’s 100 counties. The maps are coded by dominant industry sector, with the top map showing the sector that accounts for the largest share of employment in the county during 2004, Quarter 3, and bottom map showing the industry sector with the largest share of total wages paid during the same period. The continued significance of manufacturing in North Carolina is clearly seen in more than half the counties.
The industrial shifts that took place during the latter half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st century are expected to continue over the next several years. These changes will continue to impact the State's industrial structure and occupational employment patterns. North Carolina’s industry employment is expected to reach 4.7 million in 2012. This represents an increase of almost 700,000 jobs from employment levels in 2002. North Carolina will continue to experience both growth and dominance within its service providing industries and declines within its goods-producing industries.
By 2012, North Carolina's service providing industries will comprise 74% of total employment, goods producing industries are expected to decrease to 20%, while self-employment will continue to comprise 6% of all employment. Almost half of all employment will be concentrated in three service providing supersectors: Education and Health; Trade, Transportation and Utilities; and Professional and Business Services. The State's Manufacturing supersector will
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still be a major industrial force but will continue to be impacted by job losses.
North Carolina's Goods Producing industries are projected to experience decreases of close to 4,000 jobs. Employment within the Manufacturing supersector is projected to decline by more than 32,600 jobs. These job losses will continue to be dominated by losses in Apparel; Textile Mills; Furniture and Related Products; and Beverage and Tobacco Products. However, North Carolina will experience expansion in other Manufacturing subsectors, which will help to offset some of these losses. These growing Manufacturing subsectors include industries which produce Food; Fabricated Metal Products; Plastics and Rubber; Chemicals; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Components; Transportation Equipment; and Machinery.
Within the other Goods Producing industries, North Carolina will experience employment declines in its Natural Resources and Mining supersector due to job losses within the crop production industries. Construction industries will continue to experience growth and are expected to add more than 42,000 jobs. This growth will be due to significant expansion within the Specialty Trade Contractors; and moderate expansion within both Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction; and Construction of Buildings.
North Carolina's Service Providing industries are expected to expand to over 3.5 million jobs by 2012, an increase of more than 660,000 jobs over 2002 employment levels. Employment growth within the Education and Health Services industries will outpace other industrial supersectors. This supersector is expected to add close to 197,000 jobs and includes several of the State's significant growth industries: Educational Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Hospitals; Nursing and Residential Care Facilities; and Social Assistance Industries.
The Trade, Transportation and Utilities supersector will add close to 130,000 jobs, with employment growth expected in 23 of the industry's subsectors. Employment growth within this supersector will be dominated by growth in Merchant Wholesalers of Durable Goods, Truck Transportation, General Merchandise Stores, Food and Beverage Stores, Merchant Wholesalers of Nondurable Goods, and Motor Vehicle and Part Dealers.
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Total Employment
4,096,455
4,792,864
696,409
Goods Producing Industries
948,008
944,034
-3,974
-0.57%
Natural Resources and Mining
84,981
71,118
-13,863
-1.99%
Construction
219,051
261,545
42,494
6.10%
Manufacturing
643,976
611,371
-32,605
-4.68%
Service Providing Industries
2,884,442
3,551,213
666,771
95.74%
Trade Transportation and Utilities
724,668
854,372
129,704
18.62%
Information
79,126
95,031
15,905
2.28%
Financial Activities
184,638
225,504
40,866
5.87%
Professional and Business Services
416,936
560,518
143,582
20.62%
Education and Health Services
738,593
935,518
196,925
28.28%
Leisure and Hospitality
332,989
413,266
80,277
11.53%
Other Services
132,391
157,243
24,852
3.57%
Government
275,101
309,761
34,660
4.98%
Self Employed and Unpaid Family Workers
264,005
297,617
33,612
4.83%
Over 143,000 jobs are expected to be added to the Professional and Business Services supersector. This includes North Carolina's fastest growing subsector: Administrative and Support Services, as well as expansion in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; and Management of Companies and Enterprises. The State will continue to experience growth in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector, with the addition of over 80,000 jobs. This increase will be largely impacted by the continued growth in Food Services and Drinking Places.
By 2012, the Financial Activities supersector is expected to expand by almost 41,000 jobs. This will be due to significant growth in Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Insurance Carriers and Related Activities; and Real Estate. Growth within the Government supersector will be impacted by employment growth in both local and State government. Employment increases within the Other Services supersector will be driven by growth in the Religious, Grant-making, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations subsector. North Carolina's smallest service-providing supersector, Information, will experience job growth due to employment increases within Internet Service Providers, Web Search Portals, and Data Processing Services.
During the last several years, North Carolina's occupational employment patterns have been impacted by changes in both its industrial structure and workforce composition. Over the next
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several years, these changes will continue to be driven by both occupational growth and replacement needs, with replacement needs outpacing occupational growth. By 2012, over two-thirds of the State's occupational employment will be concentrated in eight occupational groups: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations; Management Occupations; Education, Training, and Library Occupations; Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations; Transportation and Material Moving Occupations; Production Occupations; Sales and Related Occupations; and Office and Administrative Support Occupations.
Over the next several years, North Carolina is expected to continue to experience declines within its traditional manufacturing industries and related occupations. At the same time, the State will continue to experience growth within its service providing industries and related occupations. These industrial and occupational shifts will continue to impact North Carolina's economic landscape and its workforce development strategies.
( )
As North Carolina's economy has shifted from goods producing to service providing, demand for skilled workers has been on the rise. Demands for skilled workers span a diverse set of industrial sectors and occupational groupings. In 2002, more than 300 of the State's 712 occupations required at least some postsecondary vocational training. During that year, employment within these skilled occupations exceeded 1 million.
Over the next several years, employment growth and replacement needs will drive North Carolina's occupational employment patterns. Several of the State's skilled occupations are expected to increase or maintain employment levels. Ten year projections, spanning the decade between 2002 and 2012, indicate that one third of all job growth will come from employment expansion in 284 skilled occupations. By 2012, 27% of the State's workforce will be employed in skilled occupations.
Although these skilled occupations span 15 different occupational groups, two-thirds of them are concentrated in five occupational groupings: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations; Management Occupations; Education, Training and Library Occupations; Business and Financial Operations Occupations, and Computer and Mathematical Operations.
Demand for workers in these skilled occupations and related industries are expected to increase over the next several years, thus requiring additional workers with advanced education and training. Through the provision of targeted training programs, North Carolina's workforce development system can serve as the foundation for helping to meet the growing demands for skilled workers.
( )
One hundred and sixty occupations are identified as critical to North Carolina’s economy. The “critical list” includes 22 major occupational groups, a diverse group that spans a variety of education/training levels and major occupational groups. Table IV D, below, shows the distribution of critical occupations by major group. With the exception of Farming, Fishing, and
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Forestry, all of the major groups are represented. This majority representation reflects the current and future diversity of North Carolina’s economy.
Management
7
Business and Financial Operations
8
Computer and Mathematical
6
Architecture and Engineering
2
Life, Physical, and Social Science
2
Community and Social Service
4
Legal
4
Education, Training, and Library
6
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
1
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
10
Healthcare Support
5
Protective Service
6
Food Preparation and Serving
14
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
7
Personal Care and Service
6
Sales and Related
11
Office and Administrative Support
20
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
0
Construction and Extraction
14
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
9
Production
8
Transportation and Materials Moving
10
160
Occupational groups that are particularly critical to the State include the following:
• Office and administrative support,
• Healthcare practitioners, technicians, and support,
• Food preparation and serving,
• Construction and extraction,
• Sales and related, and
• Transportation and materials moving.
The critical occupations within the above six groups encompass a variety of training/education and/or skill needs.
In sum, the occupations that are critical to North Carolina's current and future growth reflect the state’s economic diversity and indicate a need for a workforce that can meet the demand for a variety of different types of jobs.
Overall, 73 different skill, knowledge, and ability dimensions were important or very important for at least one of the State’s critical occupations. The wide range of dimensions relevant to the performance of job duties for the critical occupations highlights the diversity of the North
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Carolina labor market and economy, reinforcing the state’s need for a workforce consisting of individuals with varied skills. Many of the level requirements for the critical occupations’ most important worker requirements are in the moderate or high categories, an indication of a current and continuing need for workers with investments in education and training.
Despite the high level of variation in the skill, knowledge, and ability requirements of the State’s critical occupations, some commonalities are apparent. First, skills, knowledge, and abilities related to Communication are required for almost all of the critical occupations; 133 of the 160 critical occupations had ratings of important or very important for at least one dimension grouped in this type. Within the Communication group, dimensions related to oral communication are the most common, followed by reading, and then by writing.
The second most common type of skill, knowledge, and ability dimensions required by the State’s critical occupations is Interpersonal; 112 of the 160 critical occupations had ratings of important or very important for at least one dimension grouped in this type. The most commonly required dimension is Customer Service, followed by the dimension related to Teaching and Learning. Close behind the Interpersonal type in prevalence were the dimension in the Process and Problem-Solving group, where 61% of the critical occupations had an important or very important requirement. Within this type, the emphasis, for the critical occupations, is on dimension related to Problem Solving (i.e., Critical Thinking, Judgment, and Decision-Making).
Significant portions of the critical occupations have requirements in the other types as well. More than half of these occupations have an important or very important rating for at least one dimension within the Business, Management, and Production group while exactly half have this importance rating for dimension within the Mathematics and Science group. More than two-fifths of the critical occupations require at least one of the dimension within the Technology Use, Maintenance, and Design group, with an emphasis on use and maintenance of technology rather than design. Finally, 73 of the critical occupations have at least one requirement for a Specialty Knowledge.
( )
North Carolina’s current working age population, ages16 to 64, is estimated to be 5.8 million. It is projected to grow approximately 15% to nearly 6.7 million by the year 2015. This projected growth (see Table IV F, below) will provide a potential 864,318 additional workforce members, 42% of which are of prime working ages, 25 to 54 years old. North Carolina is also likely to see an increase of both older and younger workers.
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Age
2005 Population Estimates*
2015 Population Projections*
Net Change
Expected Growth Rate
16-24
1,145,729
1,325,884
180,155
16%
25-54
3,738,673
4,105,952
367,279
10%
55-64
909,060
1,225,944
316,884
35%
Total
5,793,462
6,657,780
864,318
15%
*Source: North Carolina State Demographer available at http://demog.state.nc.us
The actual number of workers in 2015 will depend on future labor force participation rates, which in turn depend on a myriad of factors such as economic and cultural conditions. Applying current labor force participation rates to the above population growth projections provides an estimate of the workforce in 20152. See Table IV FF, below.
Age
2015 Population Projections1
2003 Labor Force2
2003 Labor Force ParticipationRate2
Estimated Workforce 2015
Net Change
16-24
1,325,884
602,608
64.5%
855,585
252,977
25-54
4,105,952
2,958,914
82.4%
3,381,279
422,365
55-64
1,225,944
480,595
59.3%
727,508
246,913
Total
6,657,780
4,042,117
75.7%
5,042,652
1,000,535
1 North Carolina State Demographer available at http://demog.state.nc.us
2 American Community Survey
It is estimated that one million workers will be added to North Carolina’s workforce by 2015, and that the total workforce between the ages of 16 and 64 will increase to just over 5 million – 3.4 million of prime working age. The number of both younger and older workers will increase by 250,000. The numbers of older workers are projected to increase by over 50%.
North Carolina is one of the top destinations for state-to-state migrations, according to the Census Bureau’s special report, “State-to-State Migration Flows: 1995-2000”3, and was fourth in This estimate is presented with the caveat that future participation rates will likely not be the same as they are in 2003. For example, participation rates of older workers may change depending on public perception of the stability of Social Security. In an attempt to produce a more robust estimate of the future workforce, labor force participation rates were calculated for North Carolina for the most recent year available, 2003. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-8.pdf.
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the nation in terms of net migration - with 48.4 more people moving into North Carolina than were moving out (for every 1000 residents). Two of the largest state-to-state migration flows in the nation were from New York to North Carolina (100,727) and from Florida (96,255) to North Carolina. Nearly 500,000 working age people were added to North Carolina’s population during the period covered by the report, as twice as many people moved in as moved out.
North Carolina has experienced population growth rates above the national average throughout the 1990s and early 2000s as well as consistently large positive annual net migration rates4; therefore it is projected that this trend will continue.
As a result of migration, North Carolina’s labor pool is becoming more diverse ( ). The net migration rates are positive for each of the workforce age categories when broken out by race, meaning that more people of all ages and races are moving into North Carolina than are moving out. Migration increases the diversity of North Carolina as more people of color move in and stay. For example, nearly 40% of people of current Hispanic and “Other/Multiple Races” can be accounted for by net migration, as well as over 20% of the current Asian/Pacific Islander population. In 2003, the Hispanic population accounted for nearly 5% of North Carolina’s total working age population, up from 1.4% in 1995. While a smaller portion of Hispanics live in North Carolina (5.6% of the total population) relative to the nation as a whole (13.8%), the presence of this population is a relatively new phenomena that presents challenges to the State’s education and training systems in addressing the language barriers.
The educational levels and occupations of migrants are presented in Table IV G, below. The net migration rates are positive for each of the educational categories and occupations, meaning that more people of all educational levels and occupations are moving in than are moving out. It appears that North Carolina has benefited from the migration, with increases in the numbers of college educated in the available labor pool, and increased numbers of people working in Professional and related occupations.
4 See graphs of population growth rates and migration rates under State Highlights at http://demog.state.nc.us/.
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Less than High School
182,289
155,526
26,763
High School
216,255
118,852
97,403
Some College/Associate Degree
283,185
158,341
124,844
Bachelor's Degree or higher
272,352
167,403
104,949
Management, business and financial operations
102,558
65,875
36,683
Professional and related
175,094
99,432
75,662
Healthcare support
13,849
7,644
6,205
Protective support
11,876
10,293
1,583
Food preparation and serving
48,295
21,591
26,704
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance
22,939
9,239
13,700
Personal care and service
18,861
10,799
8,062
Sales and related
86,556
51,648
34,908
Office and administrative support
107,606
61,173
46,433
Farming, fishing, and forestry
7,826
2,323
5,503
Construction and extraction
56,739
19,672
37,067
Installation, maintenance and repair
37,005
16,955
20,050
Production
71,006
27,208
43,798
Transportation and Materials Moving
41,115
23,545
17,570
Military-Specific
34,093
12,868
21,225
Based on the analysis of worker requirements associated with the State’s critical occupations (see Section IV.E), the skill needs of jobs in the current and future labor market focus are varied in type, but similar in terms of requiring moderate or high levels of the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities. Four types of skills, knowledge, and abilities were identified as having a high degree of commonality, meaning that many of the critical occupations require these types of competencies:
• Basic Skills (i.e., reading, writing, mathematics, etc.),
• Technology Use and Maintenance,
• Problem-Solving, and
• Interpersonal.
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In order to identify gaps between the competencies demanded by North Carolina’s current and future labor market and those possessed by its workers, data on the most recent or current occupation of resident workers, drawn from the 2003 American Community Survey was analyzed. The occupations reported in this dataset were linked to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) skill, knowledge, and ability requirements, in effect using occupational employment experience as a proxy measure for an individual’s store of workplace competencies5. O*NET includes two measures for each dimension item – one indicating the importance of the dimension for the performance of job duties and one indicating the level required for performance. Only the level measures were considered in the development of the proxy measures of the resident workforce’s stocks of skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Overall, a significant portion of the resident workforce has a moderate level on many of these dimensions. However, the remaining workers tend to fall into the lower level categories, with only a small fraction of workers having higher than moderate levels on any given skill, knowledge, or ability dimension. In addition, there are several dimensions where the majority of the resident workers have levels that are less than moderate. These items are concentrated among the sciences (e.g., Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.), technology maintenance and design (e.g., Installation, Equipment Maintenance, Repairing, Design, etc.), process (e.g., Operations Analysis, Quality Control Analysis, etc.), and most of the specialty knowledge areas.
Focusing on the four types of competencies with a high degree of commonality among the critical occupations’ worker requirements, Basic Skills, Technology Use and Maintenance, Problem-Solving, and Interpersonal, the analysis of the skill, knowledge, and ability stocks of the resident workforce indicates a larger gap for two of these types. That is, the most recent occupation of many workers in the State did not require significant levels of Technology Use and Maintenance or Problem-Solving skills and abilities. In contrast, many of the workers have recent experience in jobs requiring at least a moderate level of Basic and Interpersonal skills.
These results indicate that many North Carolina workers’ most recent or current occupational employment was in jobs that tended to require moderate or lower levels of skills, knowledge, and abilities. As the trend for the State’s critical occupation centers on moderate to high levels of skills, this finding indicates that a significant portion of the resident workforce may not be prepared or qualified for current and upcoming employment opportunities. However, the gap is not large, meaning workers require upgrades in their skills, knowledge, and abilities as opposed to needing development of new competencies.
See text below.
Using occupational experiences as a proxy for an individual’s store of workplace skill, knowledge, and ability may lead to understatement or overstatement of the current stock of these competencies in the workforce. For example, an individual may possess a higher level of a given competency than is/was required for his/her current or most recent job. In addition, as the measures are intended to indicate the requirements of the “typical” job in the occupation, some level of uncertainty is introduced by ascribing these measures to the individual level
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These are critical workforce development issues in North Carolina:
• Skill gaps between North Carolina’s current workforce versus current and future workforce needs in the business and industrial base;
• Adequate funding and support of the State’s education and training infrastructure — funding sufficient to meet current and future demands for workers with requisite skills;
• Education, training, and related needs of critical North Carolina labor pools, including dislocated workers, immigrant workers, older youth, high school dropouts, low-wage workers, and low-skilled incumbent workers; and
• The fast, efficient ability of the State’s public workforce development system to improve and to change in order to meet rapidly evolving community workforce and economic needs.
North Carolina will continue to grow and improve its JobLink Career Center system as the primary method of forging broad-based partnerships in the its workforce development system. The State Board has a certification methodology for the JobLink system that includes standards and funding incentives from Title I (funding) for Joblink Career Centers to build and expand their services to customers, and to expand partnerships within their communities.
The State Board will also establish standards for local WDBs. These standards will include expectations for establishing stronger alignments with business and industry, providing good labor market information to business and industry, and ensuring that the local JobLink system and its multiple agencies and programs are providing services that are responsive to the needs of workers and employers.
North Carolina uses WIA Title I funds to leverage Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and WIA National Emergency Grant (NEG) funds to expand capacity and services to dislocated workers. The State will continue to use WIA Title I statewide activities funds to provide incentives for system expansion and improvement, to expand capacity to serve the business community, to support demonstration projects and test service innovations, and to leverage other state and local level funding for workforce development activities. This leveraging will include supporting activities that include partnerships with faith-based, community-based, and non-profit organizations.
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North Carolina recognizes that transforming its workforce investment system at the state and local levels to one that is demand-driven, cost efficient with limited duplication, and seamless for workers and employers will require a state level governance, accountability, and management structure that is clearly defined with a strong communication and operational alignment. In Section I B, the State described its plan to implement a state level workforce development management alliance (Alliance). This Alliance will strengthen the State’s ability to implement policy and plans, to make decisions that involve multiple agencies and programs, and to maximize the use of multiple funding sources to impact workforce and economic development.
The State intends to build the alignment and communication between the State EDB, the State Board, and the Alliance in a way that promotes a common understanding and vision for workforce and economic development in North Carolina. This state level collaboration is expected to lead the effort in planning and implementing workforce strategies that address North Carolina’s priorities and the national strategic priorities.
Employing a four-pronged approach, Governor Easley’s economic development policies capitalize on the strengths of North Carolina’s economic base:
1. Target economic development and business retention efforts to companies in industries with growth potential and that provide a good quality of life for North Carolinians.
2. Provide tax and financial incentives to new and existing companies that provide good wages and quality of life for North Carolinians.
3. Provide state-of-the-art public/private partnerships for training and knowledge transfer for high-growth industry clusters.
4. Target additional resources to better serve North Carolinians who are most in need.
1. Target economic development and business retention efforts to companies in industries with growth potential and that provide a good quality of life for North Carolinians.
The EDB serves as the State’s top economic development policy advisory board and is responsible for recommending economic development policy to the Governor. Based on cluster studies conducted by DOC’s Policy, Research and Strategic Planning Division, the Recruitment and Retention Committee identified in the 2004 Strategic Plan the following target industries:
These are growth industries or industries that provide synergy to an industry cluster.
• Industrial Chemicals, Plastics and Rubbers,
• Transportation (including manufacturing of aircraft engines, boat building, automotive components),
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• IT/Telecommunications (including communications equipment, electronics, semiconductors, and software),
• Industrial/electrical machinery,
• Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals,
• Financial and Business Services, and
• Health Care Services.
These are industry sectors within declining industries that continue to show promise and growth.
• Textiles (for example, the manufacturing of non-woven textiles, fibers that are bio-sensors, or bed sheets that won't cause bed sores),
• Forest Products/Agribusiness (for example, specialty corps and enhancement of products, which would include recycling industries), and
• Furniture (for example, higher-end furniture and other niches).
Since the release of EDB’s Strategic Plan ( ), the Motorsports industry has been added to the list of target industries. Additionally, the State Board of Science and Technology (see below) has identified Nanotechnology (the ability to measure, see, and assemble objects on the scale of atoms and molecules) as a priority for North Carolina’s research, development, and commercial sectors. As materials science, a basic research and development technology, and an advanced manufacturing discipline, nanotechnology will have significant impact on virtually every commercial sector in the State. The Board of Science and Technology has organized a statewide nanotechnology initiative planning committee to determine the need for, and possible structure of, a State nanotechnology initiative designed to promote successful nanotech-based commercialization and economic development.
Enterprise Teams are staffed and led by DOC, and are comprised of personnel from its various departments: Business and Industry; International Trade; Policy, Research & Strategic Planning; and Workforce Development, as well as from NCCCS, Regional Partnerships, and local business representatives. The goal of these enterprise teams is to develop marketing strategies, to recruit new companies to North Carolina, and to create and maintain favorable business environments.
Additional agencies supporting research, development, and industrial sectors critical to the future of North Carolina’s economy include the following:
• The North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, a Division of DOC - the mission of the Board is to advise and make recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly, the Secretary of DOC, and the EDB on the role of science and technology in the economic growth and development of North Carolina. In pursuit of that mission, it also encourages, promotes, and supports scientific, engineering, and industrial research applications in North Carolina, investigates new areas of emerging science and technology, and conducts studies on the competitiveness of state industry and research institutions in these fields.
• The North Carolina Biotechnology Center - a private, non-profit corporation created by the State in 1984 and supported by the General Assembly. The Biotechnology Center's
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mission6 is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina through support of biotechnology research, business and education statewide. A 50-member staff works toward six goals:
Strengthen North Carolina's academic and industrial research capabilities
Foster North Carolina's biotechnology industrial development
Enhance the teaching and workforce-training capabilities of North Carolina's educational institutions
Work with business, government and academia to move biotechnology from research to commercialization in North Carolina
Inform North Carolinians about the science, applications, benefits and issues of biotechnology
Establish North Carolina as a preeminent international location for the biotechnology industry
2. Provide tax and financial incentives to new and existing companies that provide good wages and quality of life for North Carolinians.
provides an incentive, in the form of a State tax credit, for eligible companies to expand or relocate in North Carolina. Eligible taxpayers may offset up to 50% of State income and or franchise tax with credits for job creation, investment in machinery & equipment, worker training, research & development, and for operating a central administrative office. William S. Lee tax credits vary by geographic location with more distressed areas receiving higher credits.
(JDIG) is a discretionary incentive that provides sustained, annual grants to new and expanding business measured against a percentage of withholding taxes paid by new employees.
is a flexible, discretionary tool that can be used in competitive situations in which North Carolina must respond quickly to enable job creation and/or retention within its borders. Its purpose is to attract and retain sustainable investments and jobs to North Carolina communities, to stimulate state and local economies, and to provide resources to enable communities to improve their economic development infrastructures, expand their tax bases, and improve their general economic health and welfare.
created by the General Assembly in July 2004, is a $20 million initiative to stimulate business growth and job creation in rural and low-wealth communities. The funds are administered by the North Carolina Rural Center through four programs designed to update water and sewer facilities, provide business and technology assistance, renovate and restore buildings for new and expanding businesses, and invest in major research and development projects with the potential to stimulate job growth in rural and distressed areas.
provide low-interest capital for new and existing manufacturers, with goals of sustaining and growing industrial employment in North Carolina. : the Biotechnology Center's strategic plan, “New Jobs Across North Carolina: A Strategic Plan for Growing the Economy Statewide through Biotechnology”, January 2004. Fifty-four strategies to facilitate growth in this critical industry are addressed at the Center’s Web site, http://www.ncbiotech.org/ncindustry/stragplan/strategicplan.cfm#stratplan.
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are accessible to local governments to fund infrastructure projects that will serve a business that commits to create quality jobs for low- and moderate-income persons.
(IDF) assists town, city or county governments with project financing in the more distressed counties of the North Carolina. As an incentive for job creation by new or expanding industry, local units of government utilized the IDF to provide infrastructure improvements in the form of grants or loans for building renovation and equipment to companies that commit to create quality jobs.
3. Provide state-of-the-art public/private partnerships for training and knowledge transfer for high-growth industry clusters.
have proved to be an effective model for regional economic development strategic planning, in which employers within key sectors, public agencies, and schools share information and leverage resources to training workers for region-wide needs and opportunities. The goal of these alliances is to promote collaboration and coordinated strategic planning for economic development, community development, and workforce development among the many agencies involved in those activities.
(TDI) is a UNC system initiative created with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of TDI is to examine and increase capabilities and resources that support technology transfer at the 16 UNC institutions. The study and recommendations are available at http://intranet.northcarolina.edu/docs/aa/research/initiatives/TDI_Interim_report_June_03.pdf.
The makes it possible for any UNC system institution to develop facilities that promote university/government/industry partnership through physical proximity of participating organizations and through programs designed to foster collaboration between the three sectors. Millennial Campuses capitalize on the State’s considerable research strengths in areas such as biotechnology, education, information sciences, and microelectronics. A major goal of this program is to encourage the formation of start-ups by promoting synergies resulting from collaboration of research and development efforts at local universities and local entrepreneurs.
a proposed research complex to be housed at UNC-Charlotte, is planned to strengthen and expand the productive industry clusters already present in North Carolina in motorsports, high-end automotive parts manufacturing, and the military. This proposed research complex would facilitate growth by building synergies and promoting technology transfer amongst these clusters.
4.Target additional resources to better serve North Carolinians who are most in need.
Target resources and services to workers who need transition assistance so that they may be prepared for and benefit from North Carolina’s changing economy and job opportunities. This targeting of resources and services will require the following:
• Expansion of incumbent worker training opportunities for businesses and their employees to increase worker productivity and to avert worker dislocations.
• A comprehensive strategy for dislocated worker transition assistance to training, support services, and reemployment.
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• Targeting services and resources to new and existing worker pools that may require special education, training, and support services. These worker pools include disadvantaged youth (including youth dropouts), the (increasing) immigrant population, new labor market entrants, and low-wage workers.
The 24 local WDBs in North Carolina are the primary workforce intermediaries for developing and sustaining partnerships and collaborations that define workforce needs and gaps in local communities. The State Board expects each local board to be a “convener” of workforce development stakeholders to address, on a continual basis, workforce and economic issues. North Carolina recognizes, however, the need to build local WDB capacity to meet the expectations that the State, in particular the State Board, believes local boards should have.
Specifically, the State will work with local WDBs and local officials to strengthen the boards’ abilities to promote and sustain partnerships that accomplish the following:
• Organize multiple public and private partners and funding sources around common goals;
• Understand the special needs of business and industry and influence the development of services and programs in response to those needs; and
• Promote innovation in finding solutions to workforce issues.
The State will also continue to support strategies that meet the worker recruitment and retention needs of key industry sectors within North Carolina. Title I WIA funds have been used to support the development of regional skills alliances in two of the 24 local workforce areas. These alliances, at the regional level, include employers within key sectors, public agencies, and education and training institutions who share information and leverage resources to train workers for region-wide needs and opportunities.
North Carolina looks for opportunities to target existing state and federal resources to support workforce needs in high-growth industries and high-demand occupations. WIA statewide activities funds are used to leverage and support community college-based training programs in high-growth or high-demand occupations. This funding stream is also used to leverage federal and state grants received by North Carolina workforce entities at both state and local levels that target training in growth industries, demand occupations, and targeted labor pools. Training in high-growth/high-demand occupations through the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program is supported. This program, funded with WIA statewide activities resources, also complements the state-funded, community college-based NEIT program by providing training assistance to existing industries that do not qualify for NEIT training assistance.
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The State is also using system resources to build the capacity of business services at the local level. Special grants are provided to local WDBs so they can fund demonstration projects that build local board capacity, develop partnerships with key business sectors, and strengthen their understanding of local labor markets and business needs. North Carolina’s system resources will continue to target and support innovations that are responsive to business and community needs.
North Carolina is a state dominated by small businesses. Services and benefits provided for education, employment, and training in the workforce development system are designed from a “small-business-as-customer” perspective. The JobLink Career Center system is designed to meet the human resource needs of small business. This design is based on the premise that small businesses have fewer resources for human resources and development than larger businesses have. Because surveys and focus groups have determined that small businesses are not aware of services available through the JobLink network, the State’s focus is on marketing the North Carolina JobLink Career System on a statewide level.
All of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina have small business centers that support existing small businesses with services and information, and also provide small business development training for entrepreneurs needing assistance in starting small businesses. The State has provided grants to the community college system to support curriculum development for small business training, and also to support a special collaboration to train dislocated workers in small business development within the small business centers.
The Business ServiCenter is a business service call center within DOC that quickly and efficiently guides small and medium businesses to appropriate business services, including workforce recruitment, training services, and retention resources and services. Industry specialists guide businesses to existing programs and resources that may lead to improved worker productivity and company profitability.
The New Opportunities for Workers (NOW) program is a collaborative initiative between the State Board, the North Carolina Rural Center, NCCCS, and NC REAL Enterprises. This program provides entrepreneurship/small business development training to dislocated workers who have the appropriate level of serious interest in starting a business as their personal strategy for reemployment and self-sufficiency. The North Carolina Rural Center has also spearheaded the organization of the North Carolina Business Resource Alliance, which is a coalition of organizations that support small business. Through the Rural Center and the Business Resource Alliance, an entrepreneurship education and training directory has been produced and is available to JobLink Centers and other workforce development entities throughout North Carolina.
The UNC system has 17 Small Business and Technology Development Centers across North Carolina. Each of these centers is affiliated with a university, and each helps small businesses or those interested in starting a small business. Services include management counseling (operations, planning, and human resources) and educational services, business research, and technology commercialization.
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The majority of the grants to North Carolina businesses for training existing workers in the Incumbent Workforce Development Training Program and in the NEIT program are awarded to small and medium size businesses.
Statewide activities funds are used specifically to support workforce development activities that complement the Governor’s vision and the strategic focus of the State Board, both of which are closely aligned with the national strategic direction. Statewide activities funds are used in a number of ways:
• To support competitive grant programs to local workforce areas for incumbent worker customized training for companies in high-growth/high-demand industries.
• To support funding for special projects at the local level for the development of regional skills alliances and other projects that strengthens the connection between the workforce system and business and industry.
• To support the community college system in areas of system capacity to meet the needs of business, to meet the needs of targeted labor pools, and to support innovations that lead to improvements in curriculum and training approaches for future skill needs of business and industry.
• To incent the JobLink Career Center system to achieve enhanced levels of service integration and partnership building through the JobLink Chartering process (North Carolina’s One-Stop certification methodology).
• To support projects that connect the services of community-based and non-profit entities in local communities with the services and benefits provided by partners within the JobLink network.
• To fund competitive grants to local workforce areas to support innovative approaches to serving youth dropouts within JobLink Career Centers.
• To support the development of new computer based tools and resources within the Labor Market Information Division (LMID) and DOC that provide new and expanded labor market and economic information to state level partners, local boards, and local JobLink service delivery staff.
The committee appointed by the State Board will guide a youth vision for the state and will promote the collaboration of programs and policies between a variety of agencies and organizations that serve and support at-risk youth.
This committee will become the State Board’s voice of youth advocacy and provide policies and direction that will help youth be prepared for emerging and growth occupations.
It is anticipated that strategies already in place by several agencies and organizations to be represented on this committee will provide a starting point for its work. Examples of these strategies include the following: 37 of 137
• Increase apprenticeship opportunities to dropout youth;
• Allow youth to enter a formal apprenticeship while pursuing a GED rather than requiring a high school diploma prior to enrollment;
• Require 240 hours of paid work experience as a graduation requirement for those youth pursuing the Occupational Course of Study, often a factor of keeping youth engaged in school;
• Provide enhanced services to long-term foster youth. is a strategy of DHHS that makes the reduction of foster care backlogs a top social services priority. This strategy focuses on children who are long-term in the system and are starting to “age out”.
• Provide quality and free child care to children of young teen parents, who themselves are often school dropouts; and
• Improve behavior of troubled youth by providing residential wilderness camp experiences.
Additional strategies include the following:
• is a strategy of the Governor’s office. Many of North Carolina’s dropouts are parents of young children. Quality and expense of childcare is a barrier to both education and employment for them. More at Four is available at no charge for care of four-year olds, one full year prior to other public services.
• - Strategies include these specific programs:
– operate in all counties and are charged with the development of strategies to intervene, respond to and treat the needs of juveniles at risk of delinquency. Programs include specialized foster care, shelter care, and guided growth.
- prevention program that addresses the predictors of dropping out: lack of a caring adult, grade retention due to academic performance, and school attendance.
- a residential wilderness camp for youth ages 10-17 who have behavioral problems. Since poor behavior is a predictor of dropping out and youth will exit the program just prior to the legal, allowable age for dropping out, this strategy for helping youth transition out of the last year of the program has potential for dropouts.
– a strategy to promote cross-agency collaboration is to enhance youth access to and utilization of NC SOICC career resources for youth. Building on NC SOICC’s unique history of interagency product creation and training, State employees who work with youth will continue to participate in NC SOICC’s professional training opportunities and to facilitate ongoing development of North Carolina-specific resources that link academic and career planning for youth.
The Strategic Workforce Initiatives Committee, a sub-committee under the State Board, assisted by State Board staff, researches and reviews legislative dockets weekly to ensure that any and all issues affecting workforce that are slated to come before the body are known. Once
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a piece of legislation is identified, it is researched in terms of its impact – positive or negative. A resolution that gives the State Board’s position on the issue at hand is prepared and presented to the General Assembly. The Management Alliance (outlined in Section I C) will be charged with identifying and acting upon all legislative issues, both State and federal.
North Carolina requests the following waiver extension:
1) Extension of the waiver of the time limit on the period of initial eligibility of training providers at 20 CFR 663.530 granted to the state June 4, 2004 and expiring June 30, 2005 (through June 30, 2007).
North Carolina requests the following new waiver:
1) A waiver to allow North Carolina to eliminate the 30% limitation on transferring WIA funds between Adult and Dislocated Worker programs (Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Public Law 108-7 increased the limit to 30% from 20% in WIA Regulations 667.140.) The request is for unlimited ability to transfer funds between these titles.
( ).
Performance measurement and management are key elements of both the planning and operational aspects of WIA. WIA recognizes and endorses the use of matched administrative records systems as a cost-effective method for measuring performance and analyzing outcomes. North Carolina has long recognized the value of such a system. The legislatively mandated Common Follow-Up System (CFS) utilizes UI records and other workforce development partner agency administrative records to measure employment, earnings, and educational outcomes for individuals completing State and federally supported education, employment and training programs.
The JobLink Management Information System (MIS), North Carolina’s JobLink database, was put into service on July 1, 2003. Funded through a contract from the State Board and ESC, this information system allows leaders at both state and local levels to assess customer activity in North Carolina’s JobLink system. This database records information in these areas:
• Identifying data - customer name, address, Social Security number, demographic information, citizenship status, and veteran’s information.
• Services requested data – reason(s) the customer has come into the JobLink Career Center.
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• Services provided data – self-services or staff-assisted services that the customer received.
The JobLink MIS is considered a gateway system for the tracking of generic JobLink customers. Customers that are provided services specific to one of the federal funding streams are subsequently entered into that particular program’s database. The State’s leadership understands that there must be a higher level of connectivity between these databases and will somehow work towards that end.
As a condition of the North Carolina’s JobLink chartering process, staff at each Joblink must consistently enter customer activity into the Internet-based JobLink MIS. This customer activity may be assessed by using a number of management reports available for the purpose of evaluating service delivery and providing information for performance management.
The Web-based JobLink MIS and the mainframe-based ESC system provide a common data collection system where all JobLink related services are recorded for customers. Data entered into the mainframe system from ESC-hosted JobLink offices is transmitted to the JobLink MIS application to be recorded in the database. This provides a common data repository that can be used for enhancing customer services. Once basic information is entered, the system accesses existing ESC customer files on the mainframe and supplies any additional information available for the customer. The customer may then complete the registration by confirmation or correction of any additional data and by completing the remainder of the required entries.
Over the next few months, all JobLink Career Centers and ESC local offices will have office and Career Resource Center check-in touch screens. This will improve data collection with regard to services requested and services provided, as well as improve customer service by expediting the check-in process for returning customers.
Information for the JobLink MIS, the CFS, and the State Employment Information System can be used to help meet the reporting, performance. management information, and service delivery requirements for WIA, Wagner-Payser, and the new common measures initiative.
North Carolina has 97 chartered JobLink Career Centers hosted by a variety of agencies: ESC, NCCCS, community-based organizations, Social Services, county governments, etc. While approximately 65% of the JobLinks are at ESC sites, there are 25 ESC offices and 2 WIA adult service offices that are not recognized by local WDBs as JobLink Career Centers. Staff from these offices provide services on a full- or part-time basis at chartered JobLinks in the same towns or cities. All WIA- and Wagner-Peyser-funded activities and other services provided by ESC staff are key components of the State’s workforce delivery strategy. It is critical that these service access points exist within the JobLink Career Center system. North Carolina
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acknowledges that the current situation causes customer confusion in accessing services, results in service delivery inefficiencies, and hampers consistent statewide marketing/branding efforts.
In order for these “stand-alone” sites to be eliminated, key partners in the workforce development system will have to make firm commitments to negotiate, collaborate, and compromise. In the short term, the appropriate partners at the state level will have discussions with local WDB members and staff, and with local partner agency representatives. These discussions will identify issues that may have prevented certification of these sites as JobLink Centers. After pertinent issues affecting each site are identified, the State will develop strategies for overcoming each of the identified issues. To implement actions that will result in the chartering of these facilities as JobLink Career Centers, there must be real commitment on the part of all key partners.
The State Board is well aware that accomplishing this short-term plan will be easier in some locations than in others. In many of these situations, lease agreements, staff resources, and/or difficulties in achieving consensus may complicate the task.
In the long-term, the State Board will assist local WDBs in assessing their local delivery systems as they determine in each Local Area the proper numbers and locations of the JobLink Career Centers. Local WDBs must take objective views of their systems and consider factors such as population concentrations, commuting patterns, transportation issues, and both staff and financial resources to develop plans that set forth strategic service access locations.
Since the early stages of North Carolina’s JobLink system, the State’s leadership has supported the provision of workforce services to a universal population. JobLink Career Center staff are organized to be able to serve customers regardless of their barriers to employment, their level of need, or their degree of career development. The requirement to make core services available to all customers is included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the heads of the State agencies that provide workforce services.
WIA- and Wagner-Peyser-funded services must be provided for the universal population in all certified JobLink Career Centers. In addition, a variety of labor market information is available to the universal population at all centers.
For many years, LMID staff have maintained close linkages with many of the key partners in the workforce system, including the local WDBs, the staffs of JobLink Career Centers and ESC
offices, State and local planners, and economic developers, WIA partner agencies, and members of the business community.
Educating WDB staff and JobLink staff on the LMID’s products and services is an on-going process. The Division’s Outreach and Training Team is at the core of efforts to establish and maintain strong links between the workforce community and the Division’s resources, products,
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and services. Members of the team serve all 24 local boards in North Carolina. The Outreach and Training staff attend workforce development board meetings, provide information for grant writing and strategic planning, and keep JobLink staff and local WDB members and staff apprised of available products and services.
In collaboration with local WDBs, LMID staff develops local labor market newsletters, which include key economic information tailored to a specific local area. This information is provided to local WDBs on a regular basis, usually monthly, and is used in a number of ways, including local workforce and economic development efforts. The newsletters are distributed electronically and in some Local Areas are uploaded to the local WDB Web site for easy access.
Many workforce development partners have expressed a need for increased familiarity with the fundamentals of labor market information, the characteristics of labor market data, and the appropriate and inappropriate uses of such information. As a result, a number of training initiatives have been undertaken with others to follow.
During PY 2004, the LMID, in collaboration with the State Board, sponsored Labor Market Information (LMI) Forums targeted at local workforce development and JobLink staff; the forums were conducted throughout the State. The focus of these workshops was to provide a basic familiarity with labor market information and its potential applications. As a result of the Forums, needs for additional training on LMID products and services were identified.
Training on the staff-assisted information access tool, Career Compass, will continue to be provided as needs are identified. Plans are underway to offer four refresher, train-the-trainer sessions in upcoming months at three strategic locations across the State.
Outreach and Training Team staff will also continue to work with various customer groups to develop training targeted to meet specific customer needs. Training will include a brief overview of available LMI data, collection methods, and on-line products and services. Sessions will focus on applying labor market and workforce information to assist the job seeker with job and career choices and providing information to WDB staff to assist in planning and training needs. Outreach and Training Team staff will also continue to make presentations and conduct workshops at State and local conferences for workforce development professionals.
While both the State’s apprenticeship program and the Job Corps programs have a limited number of staff available to provide outreach, a good working relationship exists with the leadership of those programs and the State Board. Field staff from both programs make itinerant visits to the JobLink Career Centers in their service areas to meet with customers. Additionally, JobLink staff have received overviews of both programs in order to make appropriate referrals of potential program enrollees and have adequate literature on both programs to provide to prospective customers.
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On July 1, 2003, the State Board implemented new criteria for local WDBs to use in re-chartering JobLink Career Centers. This new criteria replaced chartering guidelines that were developed in 1996.
Based upon the seven Malcolm Baldrige quality principles, the criteria were established on the premise that successful organizations operate with systems, structures, and strategies to achieve superior performance, continuous improvement, and highly satisfied customers.
The State Board’s vision is that these criteria move the system to higher levels of quality and seamless service and accomplish the following:
• Provide a framework for establishing that a JobLink Career Center is capable of meeting or exceeding quality standards set by the State Board and WDBs;
• Provide a framework that fosters performance accountability and continuous improvement; and
• Establish minimum standards that allow for local flexibility while protecting the minimum service expectations of the JobLink brand.
The JobLink chartering system is the vehicle local WDBs use to fulfill their quality assurance roles and to determine the readiness of the JobLink Centers to provide services. The chartering policy and the process address only State minimum requirements, applied by local WDBs and then validated by the State Board staff. Local WDBs and partnering agencies are encouraged to expand on the minimum requirements in order to promote a more seamless workforce development system.
Each chartered JobLink must meet minimum staffing requirements, create a business plan, have staff trained in customer service, and develop a number of processes designed to bring partners closer together. The chartering criteria incorporate three levels of accomplishment, with each level being more difficult to attain than the previous level. A financial reward is given to recognize those centers that are chartered at levels II and III.
The goal of the State’s JobLink system is to create a seamless array of services for both the jobseeker and the business customer. The JobLink chartering criteria have assisted in the effort by requiring that JobLink center staff create a process to coordinate the partners’ job development and job placement processes. This has resulted in greater clarification of business needs as they relate to the pool of qualified workers. It has also streamlined employer visits made by JobLink staff and makes for a more efficient means of service delivery.
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North Carolina, along with several other states, has struggled with the issue of allocating costs in the state’s JobLink Career Center System. State Board staff have convened state and local partner meetings to discuss a resolution to this problem. Cost-sharing budget models have been developed and distributed for use in these discussions.
Thus far, the meetings have produced no tangible results, as the partners have very different views on the subject. Some of the partners want all costs, including staff costs, to be shared; other partners want only facilities costs to be considered. Some partners do not have the State/local organizational structure to make cost sharing happen at the local level; other partners say they do not have adequate resources to share.
One of the ways North Carolina has used the WIA statewide activities reserve funds is by providing JobLink Enhancement Grants to each of the 24 Local Areas. The amount that each of the local WDBs receives includes a base amount and additional funds weighted for workforce-related factors and for the chartered JobLink centers in the area. For the last five years, $2 million has been allocated for this purpose. Allowable expenditures include equipment, signage, resource room materials, accommodations for the disabled, staff training, and other items.
North Carolina recognizes that, at a minimum, a State’s workforce system must have the capacity to provide two basic services; to deliver high quality training at the level of skills and work readiness that employers need, and to effectively and efficiently match job seekers to the specifications of an employer’s job opening. But to compete in the global marketplace, the State’s leadership knows that JobLink Career Centers must perform at a much higher level of service delivery to meet the needs of the business community and the individual customer. Through the State’s JobLink chartering criteria and the greater focus placed on building a demand-driven system, North Carolina is working to build a delivery system for the twenty-first century. Characteristics of a high performing JobLink include:
􀂃􈌠 JobLink activities are developed in partnership with economic development.
􀂃􈌠 The business community is regularly surveyed to determine labor force needs.
􀂃􈌠 Every effort is made to identify and meet sectoral workforce needs.
􀂃􈌠 Incumbent worker training is provided in growth occupations.
􀂃􈌠 Both business and jobseeker services receive high customer satisfaction ratings.
􀂃􈌠 Decision-making is based upon valid labor market information.
􀂃􈌠 A wide variety of human resources services are available for the small businesses.
􀂃􈌠 Entrepreneurship is encouraged and supported.
􀂃􈌠 Private sector input helps to guide JobLink services, structure, and activities.
􀂃􈌠 Both occupational and basic skills can be delivered at the workplace.
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􀂃􈌠 A high priority is placed on JobLink staff training.
Through the use of statewide activities funds and local area formula dollars, local areas are hiring and staffing business service liaisons in order to transition from a supply-driven to a demand-driven system. Among other responsibilities, the business service liaisons will be the main point of contact with the business community to determine how the workforce development system can better serve their needs.
Also, an expert was recently procured through our Workforce Development Training Center to expose JobLink system partners on effective strategies to provide enhanced business services, and provide Local Workforce Development Boards with best practices on making connections with their business communities.
provides a current listing and map of North Carolina’s 24 local workforce investment areas (Local Areas). There have been two area designation changes to the January 2000 initial WIA designation of 25 areas: 1) The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Consortium ceased to exist on July 2002 and Forsyth County (including the City of Winston-Salem) joined the Northwest Piedmont Job Training Consortium; 2) Anson County moved from the Pee Dee Region Workforce Consortium (formerly called Region H Job Training Consortium) to Centralina Workforce Development Consortium on July 2000.
North Carolina’s current 24 Local Areas meet the performance and fiscal accountability criteria of WIA and are accordingly re-designated for this two-year plan period.
The original process included the State Board’s 1998 review of the provisions of the new WIA relative to sub-state areas including all factors noted in the sections referenced above. The State Board’s recommendation to the Governor that he extend the opportunity to existing local service delivery area chief elected officials to continue as Local Areas under WIA was accepted. The response from chief elected officials was unanimously affirmative and the original WIA Local Areas were designated. The State Board will monitor any changes to designation criteria that may be included in WIA reauthorization and relevant changes to labor market areas and other considerations and re-visit re-designation as appropriate.
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The appeals process currently in place was effective for the designation described above. The process is as follows:
Any unit of local government or consortium of local governments with a population of 200,000 or more that requests designation as a local workforce investment area and is denied designation may appeal the recommendation of the State Board to its Executive Committee. If the appeal does not result in designation of the area, the unit(s) of local government may appeal to the Governor. Should the unit(s) of local government with 200,000 or more population be denied designation by the Governor, the unit(s) may appeal to the U. S. Secretary of Labor in accordance with Section 661.280 of 20 CFR Part 652 et al., Workforce Investment Act Final Rule (August 11, 2000).
North Carolina received approval in its initial WIA Strategic Five Year State Plan to allow chief elected officials the opportunity to retain current local boards or appoint new boards. Chief elected officials submitted signed certification packages for their local WDBs based on the option selected. All WDBs opted for continuation and were required to be in compliance with the nomination and appointment process used under Section 102 of the JTPA ,including subsequent appointments. Appointments from the private sector must be in compliance with the intent of WIA and ensure that private sector representation is reflective of the local labor market. North Carolina will monitor changes to local WDB composition requirements that may occur in WIA reauthorization and, as appropriate, make requests for amendments to update this plan.
North Carolina will continue its commitment to strengthening local WDBs through technical assistance, provided by DET, and training, through the Workforce Development Training Center (WDTC). Further, the review of local plans will include strengthening relationships with traditional and non-traditional partners at the local level and continued building of relationships with economic development entities. Building capacity in the JobLink system is always a priority.
Capacity building grants were awarded to the majority of the local WDBs within the last year. Some of the funded activities include “state of the workforce” reports, strategic planning, certification of skills, and business services for the small business sector. As the grant period ends, a summary of best practices and lessons learned will be created and shared. Future capacity building grants may be available so local WDBs can continue initial projects.
North Carolina realizes that the relationship between the State Board and the local WDBs can be enhanced. The State Board’s plan includes a goal of establishing an accountability system
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that builds both State and local WDB capacity. Strategies include relationship building, enhanced accountability models, and educational opportunities with local elected officials, local WDB chairs, and local WDB staff
See text below.
The planning document provides guidance to Local Areas on the development of their strategic plans for Title I of WIA. The planning approach requires developing a road map toward building a workforce investment system that addresses customer needs, delivers integrated,
user-friendly services and provides accountability to customers and the public. Responsibilities of local WDBs and Youth Councils focus on strategic, not operational, management, making investments that expand and enhance service and management capacity critical, and, for many, a new role.
With WIA, Local Areas have a unique opportunity to develop employment and training systems tailored specifically to local needs. Since a local plan can only be as effective as the partnerships that operationalize it, the plan should represent a collaborative and integrative process among local elected officials, WDBs and partners (including private partners) to create a shared understanding of the local workforce investment needs, a shared vision of how the workforce investment system can be designed to meet those needs, and agreement on the key strategies to attain this vision. Collaborative planning at all stages will enable the WDB to be demand-driven, to strengthen local system improvements, and to allow room for strategies tailored to local needs.
It is important that strong, business-led, local WDBs involve key partners who are involved in shaping a clear local vision in a way that is consistent with the State’s vision and goals, and that is responsive to local needs. Actions of WDBs should increase JobLink providers’ abilities to respond to the needs of their job seekers and employer customers. With the flexibility provided under the Act, WDBs will need to establish policies that determine what services to make available, how to deliver services, and how to effectively engage local employers. To maximize their value to the system, WDBs will track the satisfaction of customers to get feedback on their performance and make improvements.
The effectiveness of these services for adults, dislocated workers, and youth will be directly proportional to how well they meet the needs of employers in the local labor market. As a critical customer group, employers should be extensively involved in setting job and skill requirements, which are reflected in job orders as well as in the local labor market information available through the JobLink Career Center system. Therefore, local WDBs must be led by key employers and have the flexibility and authority to develop systems tailored to current and
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projected local labor market needs.
Planning instructions are issued to Local Areas by DET in accordance with WIA. Local Areas use these instructions to prepare and submit their comprehensive transitional plan. North Carolina recognizes that strategies and visions are based on assumptions regarding the economic and operating environments that are dynamic; therefore, if the plan is to be a true management tool, it will require on-going modification. Accordingly, State and local partners must view planning as more than simply a one-time event that ends with the submission and approval of the plan. The Governor allows Local Areas to submit local plan modifications by way of administrative adjustment throughout the year to maintain their accuracy and reflect the ever-changing conditions of a Local Area.
Each spring, plan instructions are issued to the Local Areas by DET. Local Areas are allowed time to review the instructions and offer questions and comments prior to the official dissemination of the planning instructions. The instructions are issued with a planning calendar which reflects dates for submission, reviews, corrections, and a time frame for when final approval letters will be sent by the State. In addition, the planning calendar allows time for local WDBs to request assistance and guidance for the plan; this can be provided either in group sessions or in individual meetings.
Since plan modifications are to be developed by the local WDB in partnership with the appropriate chief elected official(s), the plan modification submission must include the original signatures of the chief elected official(s) and the WDB Chairman.
Negotiation of performance of measures is provided as required by USDOL Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGL). Notice of Local Area performance measures are issued under separate cover and filed with each Local Area plan file.
Local plan guidance is written by the state office to be in accordance with the State of North Carolina’s goals and strategic direction and provide guidance for the Local Area. Plan final approvals are given only to Local Areas whose responses are in accordance with Federal regulations and State policy.
North Carolina recognizes that county or state geographic lines do not define labor markets. While appropriate across boundary planning, collaboration and joint efforts are ongoing, there are currently no formal regional planning documents with corresponding performance measures.
Formal intra-state and inter-state arrangements are not applicable in North Carolina.
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Not applicable in North Carolina.
After reviewing the available elements under sections 128 (b)(3) and 133 (b)(3) of WIA, North Carolina has elected to continue to allocate funds using the basic formula.
During the time spanned by this State Plan, North Carolina will review allocation formulas relative to any changes in WIA reauthorization and economic factors in the state. The State Programs, Planning and Evaluation Committee (of the State Board) will include broad-based, statewide, stakeholder input in the study of any allocation formula revision.
After reviewing the WIA sections 128(b)(3) and 133(b)(3) formulas, North Carolina has determined that there will be no significant shifts in funding using the allocation formula noted in Question VIII F 1, above
The State Board has established the following formula for the allocation of dislocated worker funds to local workforce areas. The formula takes into consideration the factors required in section 133(b)(2)9B)(ii) of WIA. These factors include insured unemployed data, unemployment concentrations, plant closing and mass layoff data, declining industries data, farmer-rancher economic hardship data, and long-term unemployment data.
Formula Factors
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of insured unemployed individuals in a county as compared to the total number of insured unemployed individuals in all counties. The data source is LMID extractions from the Unemployment Insurance System database for the most recent 12-month period.
Twelve and one-half (12.5%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of unemployed individuals in areas of substantial unemployment (Area of Substantial
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Unemployment is a county or Census Tract with an unemployment rate of 6.5% or more) in a county as compared to the total number of individual in all areas of substantial unemployment. The data source is WIA Title I areas of substantial unemployment, based on LMID Preliminary Unemployment data for the most recent 12-month period.
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of individuals involved in plant closings and mass layoffs in a county as compared to the total number of individuals involved in plant closings and mass layoffs in all counties. The data source is LMID’s Plant Closing and Mass Layoffs Report for the most recent 12-month period. Plant closings and mass layoffs are defined as: a plant closing or layoff involving a minimum of 50 workers filing a claim for UI in a period of five weeks, listing the same establishment as the last employer, and with no expectation of being recalled for at least 30 days.
Twenty-five (25%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative employment growth by county (declining industries) as the change in employment from October to October. The data source is LMID’s Preliminary Employment data. The positive and negative employment growth rates are ranked lowest to the highest. This ranking is divided into quartile for allocation of resources. The quartile with the lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 40% share; the next lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 30% share; the third lowest growth rate quartile is assigned a 20% share; and the highest growth rate quartile is assigned a 10% share of the funds allocated to this factor. The funds assigned to each quartile are divided equally between the counties falling into the quartile.
Twelve and one-half (12.5%) percent of the funds are allocated on the basis of the relative number of long-term unemployed individuals in a county as compared to the total number of long-term unemployed individuals in all counties. The data source is LMID’s extractions from the Unemployment Insurance System database for the most recent 12-month period. Long-term unemployed individual is defined as an individual who received his/her final unemployment compensation payment during the twelve-month period and did not establish a new UI claim or went on extended unemployment compensation through another program.
The State Board consulted with local WDBs, local elected officials, and Local Area administrators in a detailed evaluation of the original WIA formulas and alternative methodologies. Consultation occurred in meetings between the State Board members, the State Board staff, and interested parties including Local Areas.
As noted, North Carolina will involve State Board members and Local Area chief elected officials in studies of any distribution revisions.
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The State Board developed a partnership between the State administrative entity for WIA, the ESC, the NCCCS, the Local Areas, and the local WDB to develop an on-line, PC-based statewide system for Eligible Training Providers. This system, called NC STARS, is the North Carolina State Training, Accountability, and Reporting System.
NC STARS is an Internet-based, interactive application used by training providers to submit applications to provide WIA-funded training, local WDBs when reviewing and certifying eligible training providers, and by individuals seeking training in a particular area of the State or in a specific occupation. Information in this system is available to all citizens of the State without regard to WIA eligibility. In developing a training provider list, the State, along with its partners, determined that list could serve a broader population than WIA participants; therefore
NC STARS was built to allow any training provider to enter its training-related information directly. The State determines minimum performance indicators for providers’ programs. The NC STARS Web site displays data that indicates whether training providers’ programs meet the minimum State performance measures. Local WDBs may approve only those training providers’ programs that meet the minimum State performance measures.
NC STARS serves these important functions:
• Eliminates the need for paper forms and massive centralized data entry efforts;
• Allows real time entry and update of vendor data and board certifications; and
• All